Passion is technically passion
by EvilByNecessity
Summary: The truth: We hate each other. Lucy Heartfilia hates Natsu Dragoneel. Natsu Dragoneel hates Lucy Heartfilia. That's how it's always been, ever since we were three. And it's going to stay that way. No matter what people say.
1. Chapter 1

So guess whose shamelessly doing a BS High School AU because they don't know jack about writing fanfics? THIS GIRL. Ladies, Gentleman, and any variations thereof, please prepare yourself for a strung-out, painfully twisted, out of character explosion of your favorite ft characters (except you know super OUT of character and crazy) but hopefully you'll all find this entertaining and choose to review so I know if you want more of my lunacy ;) Cheers!

Disclaimer: I don't own fairy tail *sobs*

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

People are always telling me that me and Natsu Dragoneel are a match made in heaven

Please excuse me while I laugh.

HA!

Like that would _ever _happen.

Let me give you a short anecdote to prove my point, okay? _This _was our first meeting:

We were both three years old and it was the first time we had ever met at a family dinner. His father was an extremely important business partner of my fathers and the kids were constantly thrown together at such these shindigs. However during this one Natsu seemed hell-bent on figuring out the wonders of blonde hair (oooh, aaah), and kept on tugging on my pigtail as if that would somehow enlighten him.

Here's the general gist of what happened: he pulled my hair. I pulled his hair. He screamed. I screamed louder. He slapped me. I slapped him. He burst into loud tears. I burst into loud tears.

Oh, yes. _There's _a first meeting that every girl dreams of! That just proves that we were meant to be!

Not.

The truth: We _hate _each other. Lucy Heartfilia hates Natsu Dragoneel. Natsu Dragoneel hates Lucy Heartfilia. That's how it's always been, ever since we were three. And it's going to stay that way. No matter _what _people say.

They're all idiots, anyway. I mean, you'd have to have some pretty severe mental damage done to your brain if you somehow believe that we're going to grow up and get married someday. If that ever happens, it means either:

a) The world is ending.

b) It's not us

c) Natsu Dragoneel was the last man on earth, and in the choice between him and his cat (who hates me as well), I'd (grudgingly) chose him. And that's only because I'm ridiculously allergic and can only take so much wheezy, eye watering, torture. Otherwise it definitely would have been Happy (the fucking cat).

Or d) You're dreaming.

Yes, really. That's how much I hate him. With a strong, fiery, burning passion.

It's just…he's too _perfect_. Like, he has his flaws, of course (I could spend _days _listing them), but everyone loves Natsu Dragoneel. End of discussion. Everyone loves him. He's like, Fairy High's Playboy and Fairy Tail's Golden Boy all rolled up in one, pink-haired person. He's immensely popular. I guess when your friends with the right people (my friends), your dad was crazy rich and left you everything, and you are the heir to the largest firework business in the fucking world, people start to think that you're _really _interesting. Girls love him. Teachers love him. Hell, even some _guys _love him.

All except for me.

I see right through that perfect-ness. Right through that perfectly messy pink hair and those smoldering emerald green eyes. Right through that extremely attractive face, and body…what? I'm a girl. I've got hormones. I notice things.

I'm not even going to lie: there is only _one _person who can pull off pink hair and still look extremely attractive. That person is Natsu Dragoneel.

Don't tell anyone I said that.

"OI! HEARTFILIA, DRAGONEEL! LET'S GO!"

And those would be the lovely dulcet tones of our hockey coach Gray Fullbuster, who _really _needs to understand that a girl, when on her period, is simply incapable of running ten laps around the track without getting killer cramps.

Which is the reason that I'm curled up on the ground right now, clutching my middle and moaning, Dragoneel standing over me unsurely. I mean, there's not much he can do with that fat head of his, so he's making himself useful by standing there.

Notice the sarcasm.

"Argh." I moaned. "I can't do it. Cramps. Craaaaaaaamps."

"She's got cramps." I heard Dragoneel explain to Gray, who was stomping over to us, fuming.

"Well, tell her to suck it up! Be a man!" He cried, also standing over me.

"That's the thing. I'm _not_. Which explains _why _I have these horrid cramps in the first place." I glared up at him.

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh." He said. "_Oh_."

"Yeah, _oh_." I nodded, smirking. God, I love making boys feel awkward by mentioning my period. They get all weird and then they let you do whatever you want.

"Well, um…yeah…you don't have to do the laps…just…yeah…well…weight room." He managed to get out. Then, face bright red, he walked away really quickly, as if I was contagious or something.

Grinning, I shot up and waved grabbed my jacket from the railing next to me.

"You were lying, weren't you?" Dragoneel asked me, eyes narrowed.

"Nope." I responded. Then, I walked towards the weight room and stepped in taping my hands up for a few rounds with the new bag Gray had bought just for us.

"Well, are you just going to stand there, or what? Let's go, Heartfilia!" Dragoneel said impatiently from next to me. Shooting him a death glare, I grabbed my gloves and I leaned into the bag and letting the frustration wash over me. Repeating set after set, trying to hit harder everytime.

You wanna know the trick I use? I pretend it's actually Dragoneel's face.

_Thwack_. There goes his beautiful face. _Thwack_. Wow, that probably hurt. Hee hee. _Thwack_. You get the picture.

"What did it ever done to you?" He asked, as I sent the bag spinning away from me with a heavy _thump._

I merely grunted at him, swinging madly when it came barreling toward me. Unfortunately, Dragoneel was walking behind the bag to grab the spare gloves and he collided with the bag. Hard. Vibrations spread the floor as he got knocked promptly on his ass.

"SHIT! You _idiot_!" I yelled, clutching the bag to stop its swinging.

"That was your fault. What are you, blind?" He shot back, massaging his ass as he stood up.

"Don't fucking mess with me, Dragoneel. That was your fault." I growled.

"Are you stupid? That wasn't my fault at all. You dumb blonde." He sneered. Hey. Let's not bring the hair into this.

"I'd rather be a dumb blonde over a manwhore any day." I retorted coldly.

His face looked like it was carved from ice. "_What _did you call me?" He asked in a dangerous voice.

"A. MAN. WHORE." I enunciated each word clearly, right up in his face.

"Take it back." He said in that same dangerous voice.

"Make me." I challenged, raising an eyebrow.

"Take it back, you fucking bitch!" He tossed his gloves away from him.

"Excellent." I said bouncing on my feet. "Let's watch Natsu-chan get beaten up by Lucy again. Tell me, Dragon-kun, how does it feel to get beat by a _girl_?" I asked smugly.

"Shut the fuck up."

"No, I don't think I will, actually."

_"FUCK YOU –!"_

"_I HATE YOU –!" _I screamed and launched myself at him.

"ENOUGH!"

An arm appeared between us and pushed us back. I looked over and saw shirtless Gray standing us, looking thoroughly pissed off.

"This is _it_. You guys have fought for _years_, and it's starting to get on everyone's nerves. So, either forget about it on the ice or get off the team." He said angrily, glaring at us.

NO! I _love _Hockey. I need to stay on this team!

Gahh. Alright, Luce, it's not so hard, just swallow your pride and say those two simple words…

"I'm sorry." I muttered resentfully to Dragoneel.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too." He muttered back.

"See?" Gray smirked. "Was that so hard?"

Yes. "No." I said resignedly.

"Good. Now, get back to practice." He smiled at us once and then left. I made a face at his back, and then turned around to the punching bag again.

"Just stay out of my way." I hissed to Dragoneel, eyes narrowed.

"You stay out of mine." He hissed back.

"Fine."

"_Fine_."

"Good."

"_Good_."

Stupid Dragon.

Well, on the plus side, this was actually one of our more peaceful fights! No one got hurt this time! Yay for us!

_Thwack_. DIE, Dragoneel's face. Mwah ha ha.

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

Alright, I have a confession to make.

I have a temporary, highly embarrassing, _temporary_, absolutely mortifying, TEMPORARY crush on Lucy Heartfilia.

…okay, well, I've had one since I was three.

And it's been…about thirteen years, so I guess this doesn't classify as 'temporary', per se…

But yeah. I'm sort of, kind of, _maybe_, crushing on her. Just a bit.

She's just…that sort of girl you like right away, you know? She has this long, golden-blonde hair, deep brown eyes, and fucking _perfect _body…she's beautiful. Absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

It doesn't help that she's funny and kind and sweet. It makes her even _more _irresistible. And, unfortunately, I mean that it makes her irresistible to _everyone_.

Do you know how hard it is to go on pretending to hate the one girl you really like?

Here's a hint: It's _very _hard.

And do you know how hard it is to not to beat up lads for even looking at her?

Here's another hint: _even harder_.

And do you know how painful it is to know that she HATES you with Every. Fucking. Last. Pore. In. Her. Body?

Very. Fucking. Painful.

I'm pretty sure Luce would rather pick my cat over me (whom has viciously used her as a scratching post before) over me.

Which, if you think about it, is _extremely _pathetic.

She prefers the asshole cat of a guy she hates over me.

Nice.

Do you hear that weird crunching sound?

Well, that's my self-esteem getting steamrolled.

See? It's all flat and dead-looking.

That's what Lucy does to me. I _know _that every girl in the school wants me (I've been told countless times in closets, abandoned classrooms, empty hallways…etc…), but it doesn't make a difference to me if that _one _girl doesn't.

And she doesn't. Which is why I resort to sucking face with random girls to ease the pain.

Don't tell anyone, but I actually pretend that they're _her_. And it honestly hurts when I open my eyes and I realize that they aren't.

Wow. I'm pathetic. I need mental help.

No. I need _Lucy. _I need her to be _mine_. Or at least to tolerate me a little.

I still hear her cold, angry, disgusted voice saying that word: _manwhore_.

Just stab me through the heart, why don't you?

(again).

It's just…I can't help it. I can't help but completely piss her off. It seems like it's the only time she'll ever look at me, when her eyes are flashing in anger and passion (I wish it was the right kind, but I, unfortunately, mean passionate HATE). Otherwise she'll just pretend I'm not there. Trust me, I know. I've spent a great deal of my life staring at her, and I know that she hasn't even glanced. Not once.

Sometimes I make myself really mad. I mean, here I am, acting like a complete prick, when in actuality; I'm crazy for this girl. And I act like I hate her, so she acts like she hates me, and it all just turns into one, big hate-fest that leaves her hating me even _more_.

I should try to be fixing this, I really should.

But her _eyes_, when she's mad. I love how they flash. I love it. And I can't help but want to see that over and over again.

Because they're flashing at _me_. And I love it.

But, _maybe_, it would be best, for the mental and physical well-being of us and those around us, to make those eyes flash with something else instead of hate. I shouldat least try to be civil.

…Nah.

But, seriously, if I want to win her over, I'm going to have to do _something_.

I have a little too much firebrand pride in me, though. I just can't back off. If she says something about me, I'll say something right _back_, god damn it! You can't judge a guy for being defensive.

Although now that I look back on it, I _might _have been a little harsh. With all the cursing and stuff.

Mavis, I _really _should try something else.

I can't take Jason Weekly's way, that's for sure (snort).

Oh. I should explain.

So, there are two people in this school who have an obsession over Lucy that rivals the obsession Juvia Lockser has for our precious Hockey captain Gray (god help her).

There's me. The 'secretly pining for the lady' guy. Outwardly, I act like I hate her. Inside…it's a _whole different story_.

And then there's Jason Weekly (snort). He acts like Juvia, the lovesick idiot.

Which basically, means that he asks her out every five minutes, usually in extremely creative and highly disturbing ways.

Like, that one time, when he presented a scrapbook to her. Wanna know what was in it? Let me tell you the first page: it was a picture of Lucy, next to a picture of Jason, with something along the lines of 'marry me' written across the top.

Oh, but it gets worse.

The next picture was a picture of Lucy, sleeping in a bed.

Yes, people, Jason Weekly snuck over to her place, crept into Lucy's room, watched her sleep for a bit, and then took a picture.

If that doesn't prove that Jason Weekly is creepiness incarnate, I don't know what does.

He's paving the way for stalkers everywhere, he is.

I didn't get to see the third page, because this was about when Lucy turned paper-white, shrieked 'STALKER!' at the top of her lungs whilst pointing accusingly at him, and then sprinted down the hall to chuck the book into the trash, screaming in genuine fear as she went.

And then she came back and yelled at him. I don't remember what it was about, but I can tell you that I memorized the _exact _color and shape of her perfect lips that day.

In case any of you wanted to know, her lips are the color of pink roses. Except shinier. And a whole lot plumper. And really, really perfect…

It makes me angry to think about the fact that Jason Weekly also spent his time staring at those lips.

I don't like it when people look at what's _mine_. Not. One. Bit.

"Ahem!"

Well, speak…er, think of the devil and the devil shall appear.

Jason Weekly. Who appears to be…as it seems, climbing up on the table and tapping a spoon against a cup to get everyone's attention.

Mavis, what is that bloke _doing_?

"Thank you," He said, once the chatter had died down. Everyone was staring at him in mild fascination. "I would like to take the moment to sing a song I have composed for my beloved Lucy Heartfilia." I glanced at said Lucy. Her face was a deep, bright red, and she was slowly sinking further and further under the table.

Jason cleared his throat, shot a bright smile at Lucy's forehead, and then took out a piece of paper.

"Hit it, David!" He said, pointing at a random student. David the random student took out a violin and started making these odd, screechy noises that I'm assuming were supposed to resemble music.

Jason cleared his throat again and opened his mouth.

Ha. I bet this is good. I leaned back in my seat to listen, a smirk playing at my lips.

* * *

**LUCY HEARTIFILIA**

This _cannot _be happening.

Please let it be a horrible, horrible nightmare, and when I wake up, everything will be okay and Jason will have disappeared off the face of the planet. Please.

While I'm at it, I'd also like a unicorn.

…and some brownies. Yeah, brownies are sounding great right about now.

Jason cleared his throat again.

Aw, god, _no_.

PLEASE! HAVE MERCY ON ME, FIRST!

"_Your eyes shine like a million stars_

_Your skin is like creamy milk," _Jason warbled in a ridiculous voice.

Gah! He calls that _singing_?!

That is the _single worst thing _I have ever heard, and that's saying a lot, because I'm currently being tortured by that 'violin' playing in the background.

Mavis hates me.

"_Please be mine,_

_You're so divine._

_Lucy Heartfilia, in my mind you shine."_

Someone, kill me.

No, seriously. Do it. Please.

"_Every time I see your face my heart feels like a…_

…_Stampeding crowd of animals,_

_Racing through the park,_"

Who wrote those lyrics? His pet cat?!

_"So Lucy, Oh Lucy I love you with all my heart,_

_Be mine, please, be mine._

_You'll always stay with me in my heart_."

He stretched out the last note, his voice cracking horribly at the end, and then bowed a couple of times to the wild applause that had broken out in the South Entrance.

Pick up a rock. Do it.

Good. Okay, ready?

Hit me with it. Right there. Yes. Right behind my head. Perfect.

Uh-huh. Now, take a deep, calming breath, and say remember the power comes from the hips.

It will be fine.

It's a kindness. Really. I Promise.

No?

Aw, come on, _why_?!

Fine. You suck.

"That is so creepy." I heard Levy say from above me in a scared voice.

I agree. Strongly.

"Luce! Get out from under there!" Cana added.

"NO!" I said.

"Lucy, come on…it wasn't so bad." Levy consoled. "It was a tad creepy, yes, and really badly sung…and the lyrics were absolute shit…aw, who am I kidding?! It _was _that bad. I am so glad that I'm not you right now."

Gee, thanks, Lev. Really. Your sympathy means so much to me.

"Luce, come on." Cana wheedled. "There's cheesecake!"

"Cheesecake?!" Immediately, I popped out from under the table, face glowing.

You know what? Absolute and utter mortification can _wait_. I need my cheesecake!

YES! One slice left! It's mine!

Holy shit.

Erza saw me.

Well, I die today.

But first CHEESECAKE-

Almost there…almost…almost…

"So, what did you think?"

_Crash_.

I whipped around and stood up, shattering about half the plates around me as my hand slammed against the table and tipped it.

"WHAT. WERE. YOU. THINKING?!" I shrieked at Jason, who was grinning broadly at me as if he had done something worthy of the Nobel Prize.

"So, you liked it?" He asked hopefully.

"NO I DID NOT FUCKING LIKE IT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO YELL TO GET YOU TO UNDERSTAND?! I. DO. NOT. WANT. TO. GO. OUT. WITH. YOU!" I screamed. His grin slid off his face.

"NOT TODAY, NOT TOMORROW, _NO_, NOT EVEN THE DAY AFTER THAT! NOT WITH A CAT, NOT WITH A HAT, NOT EVEN WITH FLIPPIN' GREEN EGGS AND FLIPPIN' HAM! I DON'T WANT TO DATE YOU!"

"Shit, children's books? Really Luce? Try harder" Cana quipped

"I WILL NEVER GO OUT WITH YOU! EVER! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL, JASON WEEKLY! I'D RATHER DATE HAPPY THAN GO OUT WITH YOU! HELL, I'D RATHER DATE _DRAGONEEL_, AND THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING, SINCE I ABHOR THAT CHILD! THAT'S HOW MUCH I HATE YOU! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, _NOW_, BEFORE I DO SOMETHING I WILL REGRET!"

I was practically frothing at the mouth at this point.

Well, that's what you get for messing with me. You mess with a Heartfilia, you get the temper. I may not have gotten the salesman gene but I certainly have the hot head. And I'm _not _afraid to use it.

"Okay!" Jason said cheerfully, kissing me on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, love!"

I'm speechless.

Mouth agape, I stared after him as he strutted down the hallway as if he owned the fucking place.

What did he – he just – temper – cheesecake – Dragoneel – red – WHAT THE FUCK?! ARGH!

Muttering darkly to myself, I sat down on the bench again, ignoring the giggles around me. Levy was poorly disguising her laughter as wild, hiccuping coughs, and Cana was rubbing my back soothingly, smiling in a serene way that I understood to mean that she was in hysterics on the inside.

Gahh. I hate my life.

And on top of that, the cheesecake is gone. Erza…. FUCK.

Great.

Just bloody _fantastic_.

Fuck my life.

* * *

You know what you should do now?

REVIEW.

But I'm not going to beg. Nope. I'm going to be a mature, poised, controlled, young adul-

OH, SCREW IT.

REVIEW! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?!

I mean without reviews I don't think I'm going to update this one :/ which would be a bummer cuz i have some ideas :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: No, sorry, I'm not Hiro... Wait...WAIT! I FEEL A CHANGE COMING! ... nope. Still me. Well, better luck tomorrow.

Also, _Draconian_ is an adjective meaning great severity, not a culture or anything. I made that crap up. Cheers!

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

Aw, man. I don't think life can get any better than this.

Jason Weekly sang the most ridiculous song I've ever heard, completely pissed off Lucy, who turned bright red, shattered plates, and then exploded at him.

She quoted Children's Literature.

I'm not even going to lie, that is SO HOT. To me, at least.

Lucy darling also said she would rather date me.

HA! So now, not only do I have dominance over Happy, I also win out over Jason! A real person!

SCORE!

And then I got the last slice of cheesecake.

…. Don't tell Erza

Ahhh, life is good.

* * *

"Heartfilia," I said by way of greeting. I was standing in the only available table in the library, which conveniently happened to be the very one that Lucy was sitting on.

Thank you, past masters!

She glanced up. "Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

I'm going to pretend that she didn't say that in a tone that strongly implied that she thought me no better than the dirt on the undersides of her shoes.

"Mind moving over?" I asked her flatly, like asking her felt like physical pain.

I'm a damn good actor. I should be getting paid for this, honestly.

"Yes." She said shortly, not bothering to glance up from her writing again.

I heaved an exasperated sigh. "Lucy, there is nowhere else to sit and I really have to do that Physics paper, so just move over, okay?"

"Go find another table."

"There is no other table! Why else would I come here? To bask in your lovely presence? Yeah, right." I scoffed. "Just move over, Heartfilia."

She raised her head and glared at me. "If I let you sit here, will you shut up?"

"Yes." I grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Sit." She moved her stuff over and I plopped down.

"So, what are you working on?"

"Dragoneel, don't even attempt conversation. It will –"

"—turn into a fight, yeah. I'll just shut up." I completed for her.

"Thank you," She got out stiffly, after what I assume was a raging internal battle. I grinned again.

I grabbed a couple of textbooks and got started on the paper.

I sighed, flipping through the pages and glanced up at Lucy. She was chewing the end of her pen as she concentrated hard on something. I watched as she shifted her gaze to the ceiling, as if the answers to her questions were on there.

They obviously weren't.

"Urgh," She finally said, throwing her pen down. "Stupid Draconian essay!"

Oh. I forgot we had to do that. Damn.

"Is it hard?" I asked her.

She sighed. "Not really, I just don't want to look through these books for the answers."

She sighed again, and I waited for her to ask me.

Um…hello?

"You do know that I'm half Draconic, right?" I finally asked her, staring at her incredulously.

She started, and then gazed at me in awe, like she really couldn't believe her luck. Wow. She needs to do that more often. "I'd completely forgotten you knew stuff about them! Can I ask you?"

"Yeah, sure." I waved at her to proceed, leaning back in my chair.

You know what? Having a civil conversation with her isn't that hard at all. As long as we have a safe, non-arguable topic to discuss, we're good to go.

"Okay." She grabbed her sheet and read it for a second. "Give three examples of coming of traditions in draconic culture."

I thought for a second. "Okay, well, it's different for boys and girls, traditionally if you're a boy you need to win a sparring match against one of your elders in a formal exam, if you're a girl you need to demonstrate your knowledge in healing. Although when you start training in either you can choose the other instead it's not enforced by your gender or anything. And it's only after officially coming of age that you're allowed to refer to yourself as an official 'slayer'."

"Thank you!" She said joyfully, scribbling it down in her loopy handwriting. "Man, I sure am lucky that you happened to sit here today of all days." She added, still grinning happily. "You just saved me, like, an hour of looking through my notes."

"No problem." I waved it off.

"How do you know so much about it though?" She asked, raising her head and looking curiously at me.

"Apart from the fact that I am part Draconian?" I asked, smirking slightly.

She rolled her eyes.

"Nah, dad was just really serious I knew about my heritage when I was younger," I replied quietly.

"Oh..." she puckered her lips into a cute little o shape when she breathed out the word. Beautiful.

I shrugged. "I just…I've developed an interest in it. I've always had an interest, ever since I found out that my dad actually practiced it growing up." I chose my words carefully, looking down at the table so she wouldn't be able to read my eyes.

I glanced up at her, and she was gazing at me sympathetically, almost…tenderly.

Wow.

"It sort of…brings me closer to him. I miss him, you know. He died before I can remember much." I continued talking to the table.

"He was a great man." Lucy said quietly, and I looked up at her again. Her eyes were still soft.

"I know." I said softly, smiling slightly. "I just…I wish I was able to meet him again. Just once. To see what he was like."

She was silent as she continued gazing at me, like she was urging me to on. So, I kept talking. "I've spent my whole life not knowing who my mom is and all I have is the words of other people for memories of my dad. I want to meet them for myself, you know? As an adult. And it hurts that I can't."

Natsu Dragoneel, shut up now! You sound like a complete poof!

"Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if they were still alive." I finished, looking down at the table again.

Nice, Natsu. Really nice.

And, the award for Most Embarrassing Case of Word Diarrhea goes to… NATSU wait for it... DRAGONEEL!

It was silent as I continued staring down at the table, cheeks burning from saying so much to her.

I could feel her eyes on me, waiting for me to say or do something, but I continued gazing at the wood of the table. Suddenly, I felt a soft, warm hand on mine. Surprised, I looked up to see…Lucy's hand. On mine.

Holy. Shit.

I looked up at her to see that she was smiling gently at me. "He was a great man." She repeated. I smiled at her, turning my hand over to give hers a squeeze.

"Thank you," I replied.

Someone, pinch me. I must be dreaming.

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Someone, pinch me. I must be dreaming.

Seriously. There's no way this can be real. This has to be some sort of crazy figment of my wild imagination.

I'm sitting in the library, holding hands with Natsu Dragoneel and – get this – gazing into his eyes.

There is so much wrong with that sentence.

But I just can't help it. I mean, I never knew. Any of this. How he feels about his parents dying… nothing. And, the fact that he's sensitive about all of this is really fucking hot.

Plus, his eyes are pretty.

Don't tell anyone.

It's because of all this, combined, that I'm sitting in PUBLIC, holding hands and gazing into the eyes of Natsu Dragoneel.

DON'T YOU DARE TELL A SOUL. Otherwise, I swear, those will be the last words you ever utter.

You will die. Painfully.

That's right. Be afraid. Don't mess with me.

I will eat you alive with barbeque sauce.

AND I WILL ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

I need to snap out of this. But, it's just… his eyes go on forever. And ever… and ever. I feel like I'm lost in them, and I just can't seem to pull myself out.

How come I never noticed this before?

Oh, wait. Usually I'm too mad to look properly at him.

It was really weird. We completely by-passed awkward, hesitantly polite conversation and went straight to having a heart-to-heart.

That is not normal. You don't have a heart-to-heart with the person you hate dearly. You just…don't. It completely fucks up your mutual hate/hate relationship.

"Um…what the hell are you two doing?"

I jumped, pulled my hand quickly out of Na-Dragoneel's hand, and looked around guiltily. I was met with the confused, suspicious expressions on Levy and Gajeel's faces. Oh, Gajeel, I never introduced you.

Reader, meet Gajeel Redfox, Levy's boyfriend and Natsu's practically brother. Tall. Dark haired. Riddled with piercings. Handsome. Of muscular build. Silently terrifying. Goalie on the hockey team.

Gajeel, hands down, is absolutely perfect for Levy (and gorgeous). They even look perfect. He's got these dark red eyes, jet black hair that's longer than mine and that needs to be constantly brushed out of the way (Levy thinks it's adorable the way he flips it out of his eyes by snapping his head to the side. She said he looks like he's got some freakish twitch going on. I was like, yeah…that's totally attractive), and is hella tall which actually complement's Levy's freakishly midget self. He's also hot as hell, -but not as hot as Natsu- and muscular, and funny and smart and sweet…

…And Mavis, I sound like I'm in love with my best friend's boyfriend. I promise, I'm not. I'm really just saying the truth.

"Nothing." I replied hastily. "Homework."

"Really now?" Levy asked me, dropping Gajeel's hand so she could put her hands on her hips. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the silent eyebrow conversation Dragoneel and Gajeel were having.

"Yes. Really." I replied, not meeting her gaze. I'm a pitiful liar.

"It didn't look like it from over there." She raised her eyebrow at me and smirked. "I'm pretty sure 'homework' isn't in Natsu Dragoneel's hand. Or eyes."

I flushed. "We were just talking." I said defensively.

"Uh-huh." Gajeel said, unconvinced, throwing his arm casually around Levy's waist. "By talking, you mean fighting, right? And then covering it up by holding hands and acting like friends!" He pointed his finger accusingly at me.

…okay. Let's just go with that.

I smiled sheepishly.

"Who did you injure this time?" Levy sighed, looking disapprovingly at us. "That last person is in the hospital, isn't he?"

"We didn't injure anyone!" I said indignantly. "We've never injured another person before. How dare you say something as blasphemous as that, Lev?!"

"And what makes you think we were fighting? Can't two people have a nice, normal conversation without an interrogation session afterwards anymore?" Dragoneel asked in tones of outrage.

Well, he just ruined my little act! Come on, Natsu! Us having a normal conversation is unheard of. And now people are going to be all suspicious. Good one, Dragoneel. Really.

"Yeah, yeah." Levy rolled her eyes and plopped down next to me, bringing Gajeel down as well. "But we've got our eyes on you."

She whipped her head back and forth between the bemused expressions on my and Natsu's faces, eyes narrowed and lips pursed in suspicion.

"Honestly, Levy." I scoffed. "As if I'd ever do anything with Dragoneel."

"Back at you, Heartfilia." He shot at me, glowering.

We glared at each other for a little while longer, and then, after two irritated huffs, continued doing our homework.

"And here I was, hoping that they'd finally chalked up to all that sexual tension and had a nice make out sesh." Gajeel quipped.

"OI! Watch where you're going!" I yelled as I accidentally tripped over a pair of feet.

"You watch where you're going." The owner of the feet said. I looked up, glaring, right at Dragoneel.

Of course.

"Watch it, Dragoneel." I warned, grabbing his tie and pulling his face down level with mine.

The sudden, unbidden, traitorous thought of what his lips would feel like on my lips crossed my mind as his face suddenly got closer.

Focus, Lucy! This is Natsu Dragoneel! You hate him!

"I'm not in the mood today, Dragoneel. So just stay out of my way, and we'll both just continue living our lives." I snarled.

"You're the one who tripped over me." He pointed out.

"Because you were standing in the way."

"Actually, I was standing here first. So, it would be 'in the way', technically." He smirked like he was thoroughly enjoying this.

I bet he is. Ass.

"You were standing where I was walking. It's in the way." I shot back, eyes narrowing.

"It was your fault for not looking at where you were walking." He continued, still smugly, still calmly.

"AUGH!" I yelled, releasing his tie. "Just…forget about it, Dragoneel! It's not worth it. I'm not in the mood for this, okay?"

I turned around and started stomping away.

"Lucy Heartfilia is walking away from an argument?" He called teasingly after me. "She's letting me win?"

I spun around and stalked back, seething in rage. "Fine!" I yelled. "I'll just finish it, then!" I swung my fist around to collide with his face, but he caught it and held on to it, restraining it from moving any further. I jerked my hand back, but his grip was firm, and I couldn't budge an inch. Gritting my teeth, I tried punching him with my other hand, but he caught that too, and used his hold to pull me right up to him. I glared at his suddenly closer face.

"I thought we would have stopped doing this." He said softly, his sweet breath fanning across my face. I used all of my will and forced myself to keep up the glare. "Especially after we talked."

"Of course we wouldn't have." I spat out. "We hate each other, remember?"

He gazed at me for what felt like ages. "I don't hate you, Lucy." He finally said quietly. He released me and stepped around me to dart away, leaving me speechless in his wake.

What?

* * *

"I don't hate you, Lucy. Lucy…Lucy…Lucy…"

"Lucy! LUCY! LUCY!"

"Huh? Wazzgoinon?" I sat up and pushed my hair out of my face. "Whashappn?"

"For fucks sake!" My roommate Cana cried. "Must you always sleep like a freaking rock?!"

"Sorry." I mumbled, blinking through my bleary eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's three in the morning."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed loudly. "You woke me up at three in the bloody morning, just to tell me I sleep like a rock?!"

"No." Cana said impatiently. "I woke you up at three in the morning to tell you that you've got hockey practice in an hour. Your psychotic captain just waltzed in here and woke me up to tell you that."

"Then why didn't you just wake me up in an hour – wait a minute." I said. "I've got Hockey Practice?! AT FOUR IN THE MORNING?!"

"Genius, Sherlock." Cana muttered, climbing back into her bed. She is normally nicer than this.

Lesson: sleep deprivation does ugly things to people. Keep that in mind, children.

I groaned and flopped down in my bed.

I hate my life.

I really hate my life.

I must have kicked a lot of helpless little puppies in my last life, because then otherwise karma wouldn't hate me so much.

I'm here at four fucking A.M. in the fucking morning, freezing my ass doff in the fucking rink.

Why, oh why, do I have to have such a strong, intense love for hockey? If I didn't love it so much, I wouldn't be in this predicament – the only girl (possibly in all of the world) standing out here right now, clutching my stick and trying to hear Gray past the noise of my teeth chattering.

It's not working too well. And judging by the irritated sideways glances Dragoneel is giving me, he can't hear over them, either.

Well, sucks for you, Dragoneel. That's what you get for…for…um…for existing.

Okay, that was lame. It isn't his fault. Though it is his fault for completely confusing me like that. I bet it was just to surprise me. Fucker.

"I don't hate you, Lucy" my ass. We both know he fucking hates me just as much as I hate him.

"Here." I looked over to see that Natsu Dragoneel was holding his jacket out to me.

"Hu-u-uh?" I chattered out. Why would he be giving me his jacket? He should be enjoying my discomfort.

"The jacket, Heartfilia. Take it. That noise is so fucking annoying; I can't stand it."

Oh. He thinks it's annoying. Close enough.

"N-n-n-n-o." I said. "I d-d-don't w-want it-t."

Exasperated sigh. "Take it."

"I'm f-f-fine."

"No, you're clearly not. Will you just take the bloody jacket, Lucy? You're cold."

Lucy. He called me Lucy. Why?

Mutely, I took the jacket and pulled it on. Immediately, I was warm. Then I noticed that he was wearing nothing else but a sweatshirt. And pants, of course. That's just a given. If he wasn't wearing pants that probably would have been the first thing I noticed. Not that I always…um…look there or anything. I don't! Not at all! I've never even accidentally glanced at his muscles. Or his…you know. Okay, so I might have checked out his butt, like, once. Alright, twice. Okay, maybe three times…or four. Or actually…like, seven. But I didn't know it was his ass the first time! And then I just sort of kept looking. It's a nice butt, okay?

Um, wow. Completely off topic there.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "No."

I scowled and pulled the jacket tighter around me. "That's unnatural."

He just shrugged and continued listening to Fullbuster's rant about school glory and hockey.

Mmm…this jacket smells nice. Sort of, like…sweet, but musky. Intoxicating. Alluring.

Uh. I didn't say that. That was…my evil brain twin…Mirajane. Yep. The evil brain twin. Mirajane.

Mirajane the evil brain twin (who will henceforth be known as just 'Mira' (the demon), since the name is too long) also believes that Natsu Dragoneel is a sexy beast and should be jumped.

Mira is stupid.

"Okay? Let's go!"

My eyes widened. Shit. I didn't hear a word Gray said.

Oh, well. I'll just wing it, I guess.

* * *

Mira will love you forever if you review!

Say hi, Mira!

'Hi, Mira.'

Well, then.

S-o-m-e-o-n-e has an attitude.

Shut up, freak.

Love you too, Mira.

Seriously. She's really rather nice.

And she would still love you forever if you reviewed.

Actually - MIRA, SHUT UP! Heh. Heh heh.

**REVIEWS KEEP ME UPDATING :3 **

p.s i love all yers faces 3


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, all! so, yeah, I've been updating this as fast as I can! Why? Because it's already done, so...why not? I'll try and get these chapters out as fast as possible, so keep your eyes peeled!

Disclaimer: I am not Hiro Mashima. This reality check brought to you by evilbynecessity. Reality is a bitch, people. You must face it and move on. For honor and glory! Onward!

Cheers!

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

Ugh. I hate Gray. I hope he rots in hell forever for this torture. I mean ice has always made him go a little misty eyed... and he's always been a fitness crazed loon…but it's a hundred times worse when he's being a insane and it's MY ass he's busting.

Want me to prove it?

Exhibit A: He pulled us out of bed at 4 a.m. – before the sun even thinks about coming out, mind you – to come out on the rink and practice. In December. In the dark. When it's cold.

Exhibit B: THIS.

By 'THIS', I mean what Gray is currently making me do.

Which would be…argh…talking in a friendly way to Dragoneel.

He wants us to become…*cringe*…friends.

I know!

I thought he was insane, too! Dragoneel and I actually laughed for a full ten minutes until we realized that he was actually serious!

That's it. Gray Fulbuster has officially gone around the bend. He has ventured into the vast unknown depths of insanity and is never going to be able to come back.

I sighed again and rested my face in my palm. I was really hoping for Gray to turn out nice and normal too. I really wanted it to happen. This way he could fulfill his dream of becoming a professional hockey player and become famous and have a nice life. But now that he's…mentally impaired... he won't be able to do any of that.

And it was such a beautiful future he was working towards too. Poor Gray.

* * *

"I'm starving." I announced to no one in particular.

Yes. Along with making me do… this, Gray has conveniently forgotten to feed me. It is now eight o'clock and I am HUNGRY.

"I'm starving." I said again, since Dragoneel had flopped into one of the desks and was now completely ignoring me. I don't know what's so interesting about the floor, but he sure seems to be totally engrossed in it. I can't really see his face past his arms, though. I'm just guessing that he's staring at the floor. Or he might be sleeping. I don't know.

"DRAGONEEL. I AM HUNGRY. I WANT FOOD." I announced loudly, since apparently I was a bit too subtle for him.

"What am I supposed to do about it?" He asked, his voice muffled by his arms.

"Something. Anything. I'm hungry."

Okay, so I was whining. But he wasn't listening to me, so I have every right to whine!

"Leave me alone. I'm trying to sleep."

I gritted my teeth. I, a damsel in distress, am suffering from a severe lack of food, and all he cares about is himself?! Selfish ass.

"Fine." I sighed. "Then can I have the your keys? I'll go get something myself."

His head snapped up, expression wary. "What keys?" He asked.

Dragoneel, my friends, is a terrible actor.

"Oh, just the keys to the Magnolia you have laying around. What do you mean, 'what keys'? You still sneak the keys to your dad's car from Makarov right?" I questioned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said calmly. "I don't take my father's car."

I walked towards him until I was inches away, then grabbed his collar and pulled him roughly up. Mira suddenly shoved the thought of kissing him senseless into my head, and I gritted my teeth. Shut up, Mira. Now is not the time. "Give. Me. The. Keys."

He looked slightly frightened as he leaned away from me.

"I don't know what—"

"WE BOTH KNOW WHAT KEYS I'M TALKING ABOUT! JUST GIVE THEM TO ME!" I yelled.

"Now, now, Heartfilia." He smirked, freeing himself and leaning back on the desk. "Let's not lose that temper. If you ask nicely, I might even miraculously remember what keys you're talking about."

I gritted my teeth again. "Lisanna is fine."

He looked confused for a moment, the smirk sliding off his face. "Lisanna? Who's Lisanna?"

"Lisanna. My temper. Loke named it Lisanna." I waved my hand around vaguely.

"Oh!" He suddenly grinned. "I remember that! It was that time after you yelled at him and Cancer for putting red dye in your shampoo."

"To match yours." I muttered. "He always liked your hair."

He fingered it and grinned. "Thanks. I still don't know why they would dye your hair to match mine, though."

"How about," I smiled hopefully. "We go get food and discuss it on the way?"

He narrowed his eyes at my hopeful expression, then sighed in defeat. "Fine." He strode to the door and held it open for me. "Apres-vous, mademoiselle."

I rolled my eyes at him and stepped out.

"So." He said after a moment of awkward silence. "Loke and Crabs dyed your hair to match mine because…?"

"Oh. That." I let out a nervous chuckle. "They thought it would be better if we matched."

"Um. Why?" He asked, puzzled.

"Because, you know, our parents and are friends are always like, you know…" You know.

"No, I don't know." He still looked confused.

Oh, COME ON, Dragoneel! How daft can you get?! Can't you comprehend what I'm talking about here? Do I have to spell everything out for you?

Argh. I guess I have to say this. Okay, Lucy, if you focus on something else after you say it, it won't be as painful. Okay. Just say this.

"You know…they're under the misimpression that we're a match made in heaven." I said in one, long, really fast breath. I winced at the thought.

"Oh." Comprehension dawned on his face along with a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Oh. Really?"

I sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, really. Haven't you ever noticed before?"

I can't believe we're having this conversation. Someone, please step out of the shadows and kidnap me. Please. Anything to get away from here.

"Well, not really…" He said. "I mean, now that I think of it, I realize that they were dropping, like subtle hints, but I never noticed before." He shrugged.

"Boys." I muttered, rolling my eyes to the ceiling. Then, "Subtle hints? Like what?"

He laughed. "Oh, you know… 'Lucy looks nice today, huh?', or 'Hey Natsu, make sure Lu isn't kissing random boys behind the school…though she can kiss you anytime she likes.' Oh, and I remember that one time, Erza randomly came over and said, "Natsu, I know how you feel. You are desperately in love with Lucy, and that's perfectly fine! We are all rooting for you, okay? Just so you know. You have our permission to drag her into your bedroom and do naughty things to her all night if you want. In fact, we'd like that. Bu if you hurt her, I will end your life. Slowly.'" He shuddered. "That was one very traumatizing conversation. And not that I think of it, they weren't really subtle at all. Our friends always get to the heart of the matter don't they?"

I floundered around in my head to get my gaping mouth shut. If I don't do it soon, it's going to get stuck like that. But, I'm just…um…wow. Dragoneel…Family…Natsu…kissing…Bedroom…Naughty…Love? Um. I'm speechless. Even Mira can't form a coherent thought.

Just…WHAT?! EVERYONES FUCKING INSANE! 'Drag her into your bedroom and do naughty things to her all night if you want'?! WHAT THE FUCK ERZA?!

I don't know. Mira mused. I don't think it's too horrible, really, kissing Natsu. He's hot, you know. I, for one, would quite enjoy doing…naughty things…with the delicious piece of man-candy that is Natsu Dragoneel all night long. Mmm-mmm.

Ah, Mira. How wonderful to have your uninvited, annoying voice in my head.

The pleasure is all mine, Luce. Especially since I can get an amazing look at Natsu's perfect, beautiful, handsome face from right here. What a nice view. DAMN, that boy is way attractive. It should be made illegal to be that hot. He should have to pay a fine…ten heavy make out sessions a day. Oh, yes. That sounds good. Tell him that.

Shut up, Mira. Natsu isn't, and will never be, even close to attractive.

Admit it. He's bangin'.

What are you, Mira, a gangster? And he is NOT!

Yes, he is.

No, he isn't, and get out of my head!

I can't get out, Lucy. I'm a part of your brain. I'll always be here.

Yeah, to pop out and start bothering me at the worst possible times.

Just doing my job, babe.

"Umm…Heartfilia? Are you okay? You haven't gone into shock, have you? You know, if you don't close your mouth soon your face is going to get stuck like that..."

I snapped my mouth shut and moved my bewildered gaze to Dragoneel's face. "Who said the first two things?" I demanded.

"Um…" He looked uncomfortable. "Well, the first was…um, Bisca. And the second was...your dad." He mumbled.

"WHAT?!" A couple of people fifty miles away probably didn't hear my thundering shriek.

"Calm down, Heartfilia. We can't have Lisanna freaking out now, can we?" He looked nervous.

"Tell me they didn't say that. Please." I pleaded.

"Umm…"

"Argh. Noooo. I hate my family. I hate them." I moaned. I don't, really. I love them. But they're a right pain in my ass.

"Um. We're here." He said suddenly, and I stopped moaning and looked at... A rust bucket on wheels.

Uh…

"I think you need new glasses. This isn't your car Dragoneel."

He grinned. "Yes it is, all mine. Bought it last week."

"You bought it? As in with money YOU earned?" I asked disbelievingly.

"What's so weird about me working Heartfilia?" He asked as we climbed in

...Huh I guess it is his... Keys worked...

"Have you gone insane?"

"I don't like not earning things myself. That's not that out there." He sounded like he was at his patience's limit.

"So where do you feel like?" I shot him another wary glance, then hesitantly asked "Pizza sound alright?" I don't know how to do this. I can't talk to him all civil like! It's fucking with my head!

He didn't say anything the entire way there. That prick! He was probably just going to leave me stranded somewhere, the sadistic ass. He's probably making fun of my gullible-ness in his head. Next he'll be telling me that my picture is under the definition of 'gullible' in the dictionary. And me, being the stupid idiot that I am, will most probably go and check, just to be sure.

"Oh!" I gasped, as we suddenly pulled to a stop in front of a pizza place I'd never been to before. So he wasn't making fun of me! I knew there was good somewhere in that evil brain!

…okay, I didn't. But that didn't stop me as I grabbed the handle, pulled and walked through, into the most amazing restaurant I had ever seen.

"Wow." I whispered in awe, looking around me. There was food everywhere. On tables, shelves, even on tablecloths on the floor. Waiters were bustling around, some of them carrying trays of food, making pizzas, or tossing dough. It was like a beehive…but instead of boring old honey, this beehive makes beautiful, colorful, delicious pizza. I like pizza. It's not obvious right?

This can't be real. I must have died and gone to heaven.

"Pinch me." I said in a dazed voice. "This has to be a dream."

"It's not a dream." Dragoneel assured me.

"But that's what you would say if you were in it." I countered.

He rolled his eyes and reached over to lightly pinch my arm. "Here. Happy? It's not a dream."

"It sort of hurt! It isn't a dream! This place is amazing! Thank you, Natsu!" I yelled excitedly, and without thinking, I threw my arms around him and gave him a huge hug. Then, still grinning happily I pranced off towards a table.

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

I couldn't help but let a huge smile spread across my face as I watched her blonde hair whip out of sight.

Lucy Heartfilia voluntarily touched me. And she didn't just touch me. She hugged me. After we had a civil conversation.

This can't be real. I must have died and gone to heaven.

Don't you dare pinch me! I never want to wake up from this dream.

* * *

"I'm gonna be sick." Lucy whispered, looking rather green in the face and clutching her stomach. "I'm going to hurl, Dragoneel."

I shot her a disapproving glance. "That's what you get for eating that whole damn thing."

Yes, you read right. Lucy Heartfilia ate a whole Pizza. All by herself.

"But it was so good." She sighed, closing her eyes contentedly. "I just couldn't stop."

"Lucy." I said exasperatedly. Saying her name shot a thrill through me, and I loved it. "You simply cannot eat a whole pepperoni pizza by yourself. It's not healthy. You'll get fat."

She rolled her eyes at this, and then immediately groaned and clutched her stomach again. "Youre one to talk. And Heartfilia genes." She got out. "I can't get fat."

Oh, yeah. Heartfilia genes. Because that's a thing.

"Still." I persisted. "You ate that whole thing and look where that got you." I indicated her current position, which was on the surrounded by crumbs and curled into a little ball in the corner of the booth.

"Oh, shut up." She grumbled. I decided to not tell her about the huge smear of sauce on her cheek. It was sort of cute.

"When will you ever learn?" I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

"When you stop being a jerk." She glared at me.

"Then you should have learned ages ago." I smirked at her, and she scowled.

"Guess I sort of set that up for you." She muttered angrily.

"Yep. It was the perfect comeback." I looked at her through my eye lashes and shot her a cocky grin. She rolled her eyes.

"Dragoneel, your ego is already large enough to begin with. Let's not push it."

"Oi." I glared. "I'm just saying the truth. It's not bragging if it's the truth."

"Yes, it is." She shot back. "Look, if I told you that I think I'm the hottest girl in the school –" She paused to flip her hair over her shoulder in an over-exaggerated fashion – "what would you say?"

"I would agree with you." I responded seriously, without thinking. "Because it's the truth."

Shit. I just said that out loud, didn't I?

Great. Just great.

She opened her mouth, looking surprised, and then flushed a pretty pink color. "Well...um – well, thanks." She muttered, looking down.

"Hey." I leaned over and made her look at me with a finger under her chin. "There's no need to be embarrassed. It's the truth."

She flushed pink again. "New subject."

"Okay." I responded cheerfully. "Do you want a something to make the stomach ache go away? I have something you could take, you know."

"What?!" She yelled in a strangled shriek. "I've been like this for half an hour! Why didn't you say anything before?!"

I grinned at her. "Well, you needed to learn your lesson."

"This isn't fucking school!" She said, still looking indignant.

"Technically, that's where were supposed to be right now. And just because we don't have morning classes today doesn't mean you can't learn something new."

"Shut up, Dragoneel, and just get the fucking shit."

"What's the magic word?" I asked in a sing-song voice. Ha. I enjoy her anger.

"Please." She spat out between her teeth. I could practically hear her murderous thoughts.

I smirked at her and pulled some tablets out of my pocket. "Give it!" She reached forward in anticipation.

"Ah, ah!" I raised it above my head, ignoring her outraged look. "I think I deserve something first."

"What?!" She yelled disbelievingly.

"Be nice, Luce." I clucked at her.

I am enjoying this. Immensely.

"What do you want." She hissed.

"Hmmm…"I pretended to think. "I think I'd like a kiss."

"A what?" She sounded shocked.

"A kiss, Heartfilia. A kiss." I enunciated clearly.

"I could get anyone to kiss you without much persuasion." She waved it off. "Name the girl and I'll get it done. Just give me those tabs."

"Okay. I want a kiss from…Lucy Heartfilia."

"Sure, sure." She reached towards the pills again. "I'll talk to her and – wait, what?"

"Lucy…Heartfilia." I pronounced clearly, smirking at her shocked expression.

"Oh, no." She folded her arms across her chest. "There is no fucking way that I'm kissing you. I'd rather eat Elfman's dirty underwear."

Ouch.

And ew.

"Okay, then." I shrugged, pretending like that didn't just send a knife through my already mangled heart, and then tucked the little tablets safely into my pocket. Her eyes followed the packet. "No help for you."

She whimpered and pouted. "Please?"

"Not until you kiss mff!" My lips were suddenly covered by hers.

Holy.

Shit.

She's kissing me.

Okay. Okay. Lucy Heartfilia is kissing you. What do you do?

Well, I could start by kissing her back, for one. That would be good, since this is probably the first and last time that will EVER happen. Might as well just make the most of it.

So, I wrapped my left arm around her waist and slid my right hand into her hair, holding her face securely to mine as I moved my mouth against hers. To my immense surprise, her lips moved rhythmically with mine and her arms came to twine around my neck, fingers locking into my hair.

A shiver of pleasure shot down my spine, and I pulled her closer, tilting my head to the side. Her arms tightened around my neck and her tongue slipped out and pressed softly against my bottom lip.

Oh.

My.

Fucking.

God.

Okay, okay. Keep breathing, Natsu. Keep breathing. Just keep your cool.

Her tongue pressed harder against my lips, and I suppressed a moan as I opened my mouth and let her tongue slide in, meeting it in the middle with my own.

She tastes like vanilla and strawberries, and…Mavis. She's intoxicating.

I'm making out with Lucy Heatfilia. Kissing her. Intensely kissing her. And did she…HA! She sort of whimpered! SHE'S ENJOYING THIS!

God, you can kill me now. My life has been made. The reason for my living has been fulfilled. I will die a happy man.

Because not only is Lucy Heartfilia voluntarily touching me, she's actually making out with me. VOLUNTARILY. My hand pulled out of her hair and I slowly moved it down across her body, feeling the soft curves underneath my palm. She shuddered, hummed, and arched into me, and I gripped her tighter around the waist, going as close to her as space permitted.

If this isn't heaven, I don't know what is.

Suddenly, my arms were empty and my mouth felt cold as she pulled away. I opened my eyes just in time to see her smirking and popping the tablets into her mouth, which she had sneakily pulled out of my pocket, and swallow in one gulp. Then, still smirking, she waved at me and pranced away.

Well, fuck me.

* * *

NaLu action, yeahhh!

Also can you tell I really hate the idea people have of Natsu not knowing what a kiss is/ Lucy even being MISTAKEN for someone you can walk all over?

please, I beg of you tell me what you think my loves :)


	4. Chapter 4

hello, my dearies! (Haha, wow, I feel incredibly old saying that, anywho….) so hows THAT for a quick update, huuuuuuhhhhhh? I know. I'm incredible. And so are all of you! Tell me what you think in a review! You know I adore them ;)

also someone pointed out to me that it would make a ton more sense if Jason was Dan instead, though this is true, I am reluctant to put it in the story because of JUST how much I hate the 'key to the starry heavens' arc with fiery passion. And I figure Jason could make sense too, I mean this story is my first ever multi-chap fic and kinda a mess with how out of character everyone is:) thank you all so much for suggestions though! I'm sorry for the many MANY grammar mistakes as well, hopefully I can bribe a beta reader in the near future to help me out :)

Disclaimer: I am but a humble mortal and sadly do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

I made out with Natsu Dragoneel.

And I _liked_ it.

There has to be something wrong with me! SOMETHING HAS INFECTED MY BRAIN!

I should have known! Ever since Mira popped up, everything's been completely wrong! What's wrong with me?!

I can't believe this. I voluntarily kissed Natsu Dragoneel. And I enjoyed it. A lot.

Don't you DARE tell anyon-

Yes I am threatening you! You have a problem with that punk?!

Not a single soul. Oh fuck especially not –

Hello, darling.

Mira! Hi! How have you been? Life's treating you well? That's good.

So…what's this I'm hearing huh? You just kissed Natsu Dagoneel, did you? And you liked it? Tsk, tsk. I thought you _hhhaattteeedd_ him, I thought you said he wasn't attractive, I thought you said you'd rather eat Elfman's dirty underwear!

Heh. Heh. Well, anything's better than Elfman's dirty underwear, right? Heh.

SO you made out with Natsu Dragoneel and enjoyed it. Ha. I think this is a great time to say… "I TOLD YOU SO!"

You told me so? What did you tell me? I only kissed Natsu Dragoneel because I wanted those tablets. He forced me into it! This is sexual assault! He's a sex offender!

Lucy. Do you even think before you think things? That was the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If my memory serves right, I distinctly remember him saying 'kiss', not 'make out'. And he gave you a choice. And, might I add, you were the one that instigated the sucking of faces.

Well, your memory serves wrong! You weren't even there!

Yes I was. I am a part of you, Lucy.

Creepy.

SHUT UP! I didn't like it! It was an accident! I got caught up in the moment! I didn't mean to do it!

You keep telling yourself that, sweetie. You keep telling yourself that. But I know the truth.

The truth? What truth?

The truth about this all.

Well, what is it, then? O omniscient one?

Yes, yes. I like that name. Keep calling me that. The truth is…

Yes?

The truth is…

YES?!

The truth is…

FOR FUCK'S SAKE MIRA, JUST FUCKING TELL ME!

Tut, tut, Lucy. Language. The truth is that you LIKE Natsu Dragoneel.

HA! You're funny, Mira. Really.

Denial!

I am NOT in denial, Mira! I don't like him! Yeah, so I may have enjoyed that kiss a little, but that's nothing. I still hate him.

DENIAL! DENIAL, DENIAL, DENIAL!

SHUT UP!

"Um, Lu?

"WHAT?!" I shrieked, jumping up and looking around wildly. "What, what happened? Who's hurt? What's going on?"

"Calm down!" Levy looked thoroughly alarmed. "You just looked a bit constipated, so I was suggesting that you might want to try the restrooms."

"Oh." I gave a high, fake laugh. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Really."

"Okay." Levy gave me another one of those 'I'm seriously starting to doubt your mental capabilities' looks, and left the room rather hastily, as though she feared that insanity was contagious. Well, of course it is, Levster. I spend most of my time with you, don't I? It was bound to rub off sometime.

Sighing, I sat back down at the deck. Levy is almost best friends with Natsu Dragoneel. (they've had this weird bond over being short-stacks since we were like kids) She would be so disappointed if I told her that I kissed him just to mess with him. I can't tell her I did it. I can't.

* * *

LUCY! DARLING! YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE! MY LOVE!"

I winced as I heard the loud dulcet tones of none other than Jason Weekly and quickened my pace.

Maybe if I don't acknowledge his presence, he'll go away.

…and that was possibly the most naïve, stupid thing I've ever thought.

I attract weirdos like honey attracts flies. If not Jason, then some other freak of nature would be after me. It's inevitable. I'm a freak magnet.

"Lucy!" Panting, Jason grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. His face was glowing and his eyes were sparkling. He looked genuinely happy to see me, which was one sentiment that I could never return.

It's not like Jason wasn't attractive. He totally was. Girls loved him, especially because he was the editor for the school paper, though after they found out about his more-than-creepy and extremely unhealthy obsession with me, they sort of stayed back a bit. To be honest, I had, on more than one occasion, really sat down and wondered if there was something wrong with him. Maybe his mother – no offense to your parenting capabilities, Mrs. Weekly – dropped him on his head one too many times as a child or something.

There had to be something.

"Hullo, Jason." I said dully.

"Lucy! I haven't seen you in…" He checked his watch. "Three three point oh five minutes! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"Um." I started.

"Also." He got out a little blue notebook and started flipping through it. "Where were you at 3:55, 5:47, and 8:23 yesterday? It's written here that you were nowhere to be found."

My eyes grew and I took an involuntary step back. "You've been recording the times you didn't see me?" I asked in a voice that was an octave higher than usual.

THAT IS THE CREEPIEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD.

I'm afraid for my life right now.

No, really.

"Yes! If we're going to date, Lu-chan, I must know where you are!" He cried.

I looked at him for a full three minutes, just waiting for him to spontaneously combust, or at the very least yell out 'gotcha!' He didn't.

"Jason." I said slowly. "We are not dating. I said no. Many times, as I recall. I also hate the name Lu-chan. Do not ever call me that."

"Of course we're dating!" Jason said, like us not dating was the most ludicrous thing he had ever heard. "I've already picked out your wedding ring, and named our children. Charle and Lily."

I stared some more.

He has got to be kidding.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked, still in that blank, confused way of mine. "Jason, I'm not dating you! I'm not getting married to you! And I am most certainly not having children with you and naming them Charle and Lily."

"But we're meant to be!" He cried, advancing towards me with an earnest expression as I backed away slowly.

"No, we're not!" I squeaked. "Stay away from me! Stop stalking me! RETURN THE RING! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"But Lucy, I love you!" He grabbed my hand and kneeled down on the floor. I glanced around wildly for someone – anyone – that could save me, but the throng of thoroughly entertained people surrounding us did not include any of my friends.

Damn it.

"Jason, let go of me." I said in a calm voice.

"No, Lucy, I love you! You have to marry me! MARRY ME!" He pulled out the largest and ugliest rock I had ever seen and held it up to me. My eyes grew even more.

This has to be some sort of frightening nightmare. Or at least a sick joke.

"N –" I started to protest, but he had already slid the rock onto my finger, stood up, and slammed his mouth onto mine.

SOMEONE, SAVE ME!

Suddenly, Jason was yanked off of me and on the ground. I staggered back a couple of steps, panting from the severe lack of air I had been receiving, and struggled to pull the ring off of my finger. I was dimly aware of a small whimpering sound that seemed to be coming from me.

"Shh," Soft, gentle arms were hugging me, and I let myself get comforted by the protective hug that Levy enfolded me in. "Lucy, it's okay. I got him off of you."

"Ring." I got out, still panting, still struggling to pull it off. Levy gently took my hand and worked the ring off my finger. I grabbed it and chucked it at Jason, watching as it bounced off of him and landed on the ground with a clattering sound. He was currently unable to move as Gajeel stood in front of him, LITERALLY GROWLING with his arms crossed to hide Levy from Jason's line of view. Fuck, only if looks could kill.

"Did he hurt you?" Levy asked, and I could see a fierce kind of light flash in her dark brown eyes. Her blue hair– that matched the sky perfectly I might add- glowed like a halo around her head and whipped as she spun around, making her look beautiful and frightening at the same time.

It was pretty cool.

"No." I got out, chuckling weakly. "Just another one of his attempts. I just wasn't prepared for this one. I should have run away when I had the chance."

"We have to do something." Levy said seriously, looking down at Jason with a distasteful expression on her face. "This guy is bad news. He'll hurt you, Lu."

"No." I shook my head, defending him for some odd reason. "He's just really, totally obsessed. It clouds his judgment, Levy. He doesn't know that what he's doing scares me."

"Fine." She said. "But I'm leaving him there."

"Good." I said. "Mavis, that was the creepiest thing ever."

"Agreed." She nodded fervently, leading me outside to the quad. "Lucy, we've got to do something. I'm scared for you."

I laughed. "It's just Jason. He just surprised me this time, Levy, it's nothing."

"No. Still." She insisted, eyes wide and persuasive. "I can't have this happening to you all the time! It's scary! It's –"

She yelped and jumped three feet in the air as huge arms wrapped around her waist from behind.

And without another word, she spun around and launched herself at Gajeel, who staggered back a couple of steps but still managed to catch her.

I chuckled as I watched her kiss him enthusiastically, then winced and looked away when he responded.

Lesson: Never watch best friend make out with her boyfriend. It is repulsive.

Natsu jogged up along side us "Hey, I heard what happened."

My face immediately morphed into a scowl as his smooth, velvety voice uttered those words.

"Who didn't?" I asked grouchily, not looking at Dragoneel.

There was a moment of silence that was only broken by the faint sound of Levy and Nick kissing/whispering to each other. Which, you know, is never awkward. Surprised at his silence, I turned to look at him, and saw that his eyes were dark and angry, his posture stiff and controlled. He seemed to be fighting some sort of raging internal battle, because he looked a bit constipated.

"Did he hurt you?" He finally managed to ask in a tight voice, teeth gritted. The sentence still came out as a low snarl.

"No." I was surprised into answering. Why does Dragoneel look so…so…protective? Right now, if I didn't know any better, I would have assumed that Dragoneel was angry about Jason's little…drama. I would have assumed that Dragoneel wanted to rip the kid from limb to limb.

But of course he doesn't. Dragoneel hates me. He enjoys anything that gives me even the slightest discomfort.

Right?

"Good." He looked a deep breath and closed his eyes, and took a long breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked timidly, looking in alarm at his clearly angry posture.

"No. I want to kill Jason Weekly, actually." He said in that same low, harsh voice.

What?

"Why?" I asked, confused about his sudden, strong homicidal urge.

"Heartfilia, I grew up with you. If you think that doesn't make me even a little overprotective, you're very wrong." He opened his eyes, and I was startled by the stormy, angry grey/green color they had turned to.

"A little?" I let out an incredulous laugh. "Dragoneel, you went and rethought your moral opposition to murder because of one measly little forced kiss."

He snarled like an angry dragon and forced himself to take a couple more deep breaths. "I'm going to destroy him." He growled, still breathing shallowly."

My eyes were as wide as saucers. Is it just me, or does anyone else think Dragoneel's getting a tad dramatic? It's not that big of a deal! He's overreacting.

"Natsu," I said, looking at him, still alarmed. "Take deep breaths. In. Out. Deep. Breaths. Let's find your inner zen, okay? Yoga. Peace. Deep breaths."

I peered at his face, still a little wary, and watched as the crease between his eyebrows slowly smoothed out.

"Are you okay now?" I asked nervously, and he nodded, though the motion was still jerky.

"Mavis, Dragoneel –" I started, shaking my head.

"Natsu." He cut across.

"What?"

"Natsu. My name is Natsu."

I looked at him. "Yes. I am aware of that. Thanks for re-enlightening me."

"You called me Natsu before. Keep doing that."

"Uhm, okay….that was weird. Anyway, as I was saying: Mavis, Dragoneel! You're overreacting; that wasn't even a big deal! So, he proposed to me, and then put the ring on before I said yes, and then kissed me…all forcibly…wait, does this mean I'm engaged to Jason Weekly?" I asked in a horrified voice.

"No." Dragoneel snarled, still looking quite deranged.

"Natsu." I said in a soothing voice, stepping in front of him and forcing him to look into my eyes. I recoiled a bit when I saw the look of cold fury on his face. "Natsu, calm. Calm down."

He tried to look away, knowing he was scaring me, but I caught his face between my hands and forced him to stare right at me. "Calm down, Natsu." I soothed.

I'm only calling him Natsu because he wants me to. And that's going to calm him down. It's the only reason I'm doing this, okay?

Just thought I should make myself clear.

The look of rage started to leave; that's when I realized that I hadn't taken a breath this whole time. I did now, sighing in relief.

"Thank you." His whisper was husky. He closed his eyes, and I froze as he leaned his forehead against mine, my hands still clutching his face tightly between them.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a strangled squeak/whisper.

"Relaxing. You should do it too, you're all tense." This time it was his voice that was smooth and velvety as it washed over my face, leaving a sweet smell lingering behind.

"Against my forehead?!" I asked.

"Sure. It's convenient."

"Dragoneel, it looks like we're –"

"Why are you two kissing?"

I rolled my eyes at the suspicious tone Levy's voice had taken.

"Calm down, Lev. We're not kissing; we're relaxing." Nat– Dragoneel said without lifting his head from mine.

Gajeel snorted in disbelief. "Yes; because people always 'relax' against each other's foreheads. That's perfectly normal."

"If it helps." I piped up, my forehead still glued to Dragoneel's. "I had nothing to do with this. Dragoneel just freaked out, then I got him to calm down, and now he won't get off my forehead."

"You know," Levy began in an amused voice. "If I didn't know any better –"

"You don't." I muttered.

Levy's glare burned a hole in the side of my face. "As I was saying, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that – hold on, why was Natsu freaking out?"

Don't you just love Levys's train of thought?

"He wanted to kill Jason Henry for that little stunt he pulled." I said, trying to lean back, but failing miserably. Dragoneel wouldn't let me move. "Overprotective idiot." I added in an undertone.

"Really?" Gajeel's voice held bemusement, and I could practically hear the smirk in his tone. "The hothead's overprotective now, is he?"

"Finally!" I exclaimed loudly as Dragoneel pulled his forehead off of mine and whipped around to glare at Gajeel.

"Why is dear Natsu so overprotective? I wonder." Gajeel went on musingly, his tone slightly mocking.

"She's nearly family." Natsu snapped "Her father asked me to. That's the only reason."

"Sure it is." Gajeel smirked Levy smiled. Natsu glared.

I feel like I'm missing something here.

Suddenly, Levy's smile was replaced by That Face. You know, THAT FACE. That 'I've just had a brilliant idea that Lucy will hate, but I love because it was mine and brilliant' Face.

I hate that face.

It usually ends in disaster. First it's the Face, then the Idea, then the Puppy-dog face, then the 'Lucy relenting' phase, then we carry it out, it doesn't work, Levy fails to get discouraged, and disaster ensues.

"I just got a brilliant id –"

"NO IDEAS!" I shrieked. "No ideas, Levy! NO MORE IDEAS!"

"Aw, come on, Lu, you'll like this –"

"NO." I said firmly. "Remember your last 'brilliant idea', Levy?"

Her expression turned sheepish.

"Why, what happened?" Gajeel asked, looking back and forth between my wary/pissed expression, Dragoneel's amused expression, and Levy's abashed expression.

"You don't want to know." I said darkly, and Gajeel's eyebrows went up.

"She blew up Library." Natsu explained, his mouth stretched into a wide grin.

"What?" Gajeel looked amazed.

"I did not!" Levy said, affronted. "It was only part of it, and we fixed it right away! No one knew! It wasn't even my fault!"

"Okay." I said. "What about the Noodle Incident?"

Natsu winced.

"That was not my fault!" Levy yelled.

"What's the Noodle Incident?" Gajeel asked, looking slightly afraid.

"You really don't want to know, man." Natsu patted him on the back. "Trust me."

"And what about the Peacock Episode of X784?" I continued, and Levy's eyes widened.

"Peacocks." She whispered menacingly. "Stupid goddamned birds from hell."

"You're just afraid." I smirked.

"Levy's afraid of peacocks?" Gajeel asked in disbelief. "Levy? Afraid? Of PEACOCKS?!"

"Shut up!" Levy defended. "They're freaky, okay?"

"Oh, yes. Their beautiful feathers…" I mock shuddered. "Terrifying."

"No, they're evil! Really! Pure evil! They're demonic birds! Straight from Satan!"

"That's just because – mmphh!"

"Don't you dare say a word." Levy hissed, her hand clamped firmly over my mouth. I glared at her.

"Lumph guh uph meh grungh nuh." I demanded.

"She got chased around a zoo by the whole gaggle. And then one managed to bite her on the ass while she was still trying to get away from them. And it kept biting her, and she would shriek and run faster, and well, she made, like, four rounds around the zoo before the guy took pity on her and locked the peacocks up again. I recall that, after the incident, Levy was found curled up in a ball under a park bench, whimpering." Natsu said, smirking when Levy turned around and shot him the finger.

Gajeel laughed, and Levy's expression turned livid. "Shut up!" She cried. "It was a traumatizing experience, okay? I've been scarred for life! I'm really scared of them! STOP LAUGHING!"

We all stopped.

"Sorry, Lev." I said. "We shouldn't make fun."

"No. You shouldn't." Levy said, still looking upset.

"If it helps," Gajeel began. "I'm scared of Erza."

"I'm scared of Dragoneel's cat." I added.

"I'm scared of…you know." Dragoneel said, scratching the back of his head. Levy looked at him understandingly. Gajeel snorted.

I, however, had no clue what he was talking about.

"What are you scared of?" I asked him, cocking my head. "I don't know."

"Don't worry about it."

"But I want to know. Gajeel and Levy seem to know about it."

"That's because they're my friends." His tone was scathing, and I glared at him.

"Can I tell you my idea now?" Levy cut in, obviously afraid of another fight.

"No." I snapped at her, and immediately regretted it as she recoiled from my sharp tone, looking hurt. I took a deep breath and controlled myself.

"Sure." I said, smiling at her.

"I –" She bit her lip. "Actually, I have to clear some things up, first. But you agree, right?" She looked hopefully at me.

"Levy, I don't even know –"

"You agree, right?"

"I don't even know what the plan is!"

"Still. Tell me you'll do it."

"How am I supposed to agree to something that I don't even know about?"

"But I have to know you'll carry it out before I start planning everything."

"At least tell me your idea first."

"I have to clear some things up, Lu! But I have to know you'll do it!"

I sighed deeply. "Levy," I began patiently. "Once I know what the plan is, I'll agree to it. Just tell me what it is."

She bit her lip. "Will you say yes if Natsu tells you what he's afraid of?"

Natsu looked at her in outrage, hands outstretched as if to say: 'what the hell?!'

"Is that relevant to the plan?" I asked her.

"Kind of."

Natsu's eyes widened. "Levy?" He asked.

"I'll make it happen, Natsu." She turned to him, eyes bright. "I know it will happen. I'll make it work."

"But, Levy –"

"You don't have to be afraid anymore." She whispered. My brow furrowed as I looked back and forth between them. Levy chooses now to be all elusive and mysterious? WHY NOW?!

"Levy I don't understand –" Natsu began, looking confused.

"Just tell her. And she'll agree. Right, Lu?"

"Sure…?" I said, wanting to know something.

Dragoneel turned to me, still looking confused and a bit shocked. "I'm scared of everything staying the way it is." He said, gazing at me like he could see inside me.

"Heh?" I asked oh-so-intelligently. "Why would you be afraid of that? Your life is perfect!"

"No, it's not."

"That doesn't make any –"

"Later, girls." Gajeel cut across, taking Natsu's shoulder and steering him back into the school. He stole a kiss from Levy along the way, and with nod at me, disappeared into the doors, Dragoneel in tow.

"Levy, what's going on?" I demanded, turning back to her. She was biting her lip, calculating.

"You'll agree to it, right Lucy? You'll do the plan, no matter what it is?" She asked me solemnly.

"I said yes, but Levy –"

"You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, right Lu?" She cut across, eyes clear and truthful.

"I'll do it."

* * *

Review, please! and I would love you if you gave me a favorite quote :D


	5. Chapter 5

Here it is, chapter five!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

"No way. There is no fucking way in hell I am doing that." I said furiously.

"Told you so," Natsu stretched his arms above his head. "Well, my work here's done. See you la – whoa!"

Levy had grabbed his arm, and with surprising strength, spun him around so that he landed on the sofa in our living room with a loud thud. I winced as the sofa scraped back a little, making little vibrations shoot up my spine.

"Sit." She snarled.

"I'm sitting, I'm sitting." Natsu put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, Shor –"Gajeel appeared at the scene.

"SIT." She commanded, pointing to the sofa. Gajeel walked over, looking surprised and wary.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked lightly.

"Just sit."

He sat down on my other side, looking bemused and a little afraid. His fear wasn't irrational, though. When ticked off, Levy could get a tad frightening.

"Okay. You listen. No talking. Just listen to me."

"Le –" I started protesting, but she glared at me with eyes wide and I immediately shut up and sat back.

"You –" She jabbed a finger in Natsu's direction, and he winced. "Will sit there through this whole thing until she agrees. Understood?"

"Got it." He said, terror etched on his face. "Will you please stop glaring at me now? It's really freaky."

"And you –" I couldn't entirely hold back a cringe of my own as her dagger-like glower turned to me. "Will also sit there until you agree."

"Which will never happen." I scowled.

"Then I guess you'll be sitting there a long time."

I glared at her.

"And YOU – Gajeel, what are you doing there?" Her voice turned back into normal lilting tone, and Gajeel shot up hastily, eyes wide.

"You told me to sit, so I sat, and Mavis woman, you're scaring me."

She laughed, the sound of it tinkly and light. "You think I'm scary? Lu – wait, no, I'm not talking to you right now, HEY CANA! THESE PEOPLE ARE SCARED OF ME!" she yelled with a _tad _too much excitement if you ask me.

"GOOD FOR YOU!" Cana bellowed back, from the kitchen and with an affectionate eye-roll, turned back to whomever she was flirting with on the phone.

"Levy." I said. "You're not honestly going to make me sit here until I agree, right?"

"Yes, I am." Her tone was clipped. "And, as I recall, you already agreed, so technically, you're breaking a promise to me right now."

"But I didn't even know what the plan was!" I cried. "If I'd known, I would have said no! Levy, how did you even come up with something like this?!"

"Trust me, it's a great plan." Her tone was still businesslike. "Now, are you going to grow up and face up to it, or do I have to permanently glue your ass to that couch?"

"What about me?" Natsu cried, looking thoroughly pissed. "I already agreed to the fucking thing, why do I have to sit here?"

"You agreed to this…this…this BLASPHEMY?!" I shrieked, looking at him in disbelief.

He sighed in annoyance and rubbed his ear. "Yeah. After she threatened to chop…certain body parts off. I'd like to retain all my manly functions, thank you very much."

"Lu, if you don't agree, I might just cut your boobs off and glue them to my chest." Levy threatened matter-of-factly while ominously pointing at my chest.

The attention of every person in the room was now fixated on my chest area.

I gulped and crossed my arms, making Natsu snicker from next to me.

"You wouldn't." I whispered, arms crossed tight over my precious, newly grown boobs.

"Oh, yes I would. Mavis knows I need them." She laughed, but then stopped abruptly and continued pointing at my chest when I joined weakly along.

I whimpered loudly, crossing my arms even tighter.

I NEED THESE BOOBS!

"Okay." I whimpered, closing my eyes. "I'll do it, I'll do it. Just…just stop pointing at my boobs. Please."

"Only after you seal this whole deal with a kiss."

"What?!" Dragoneel and I both asked incredulously, our voices a couple of octaves higher than usual.

"You heard me. Go on."

YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME.

Levy smiled sweetly at us. Gajeel snickered. Dragoneel shot him the finger. I glared.

This sucks.

With a loud, exasperated sigh, I turned to Dragoneel. "Let's just get this over with."

He shrugged. "It's not like we haven't already – mmph!"

For the love of Mavis and all past masters, Dragoneel could not tell Levy that I kissed him. So I did the only thing possible. I kissed him.

On the mouth. In front of everyone. Without much persuasion.

I'm getting the feeling that someone up there really hates me.

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

Will someone please tell me what the FUCK is WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?!

Did I get transported to some sort of parallel universe or something? Some weird dimension where Lucy Heartfilia – YES, LUCY HEARTFILIA – does crazy things, like, oh, I don't know, dive at you and then kiss you in front of your friends?!

I need a strong, hard slap to the face just so I can wake up from this bizarrely realistic dream. Because this can't be actually happening.

But it is.

All too soon, she pulled away, then, without looking at me or my surprised expression, turned around to glare defiantly at Levy. "There."

"Oh." Levy said, eyes wide. Gadjet was clearly trying to hold back laughter. "Um. Yeah. Sure. We're done here."

"Good. I'll be going, then." With a toss of her golden hair, Lucy made to get up and sweep dramatically out of the room, but Levy snapped to her senses and managed to shove her back down next to me.

I continued gazing at Lucy, the surprised expression frozen on my face.

"I lied." Levy said cheerfully when Lucy glowered at her, looking indignant. "We are not done here. We just needed the liplocking to make sure that this little endeavor actually stands a chance. Think of that kiss as binding."

"Binding?" I echoed blankly. "What exactly do you mean by 'binding'?"

"Oh, you know. Neither of you can walk out of this agreement until Jason Weekly is completely discouraged." Levy said lightly, twirling her hair expertly between her fingers.

"Now." Levy said briskly, clapping her hands together. "Now that we've got that covered, we need to start the lessons."

"Excuse me?" Lucy spluttered. "What lessons?"

"You two hate each other, and no offense, but both of you are horrible at acting. And you somehow need to convince the entire school, and most importantly Jason Weekly, that you're dating. So unless you want this plan to fail within the next three seconds and have to live with Jason's creepy marriage attempts for the rest of your life, I would take these acting lessons. Okay, dear?"

Lucy nodded numbly and, with a wary sideways glance at me, scooted a little farther away, like if we got too close she develop real feelings for me or something.

I rolled my eyes at her, but my heart still quickened at the thought of 'Lucy Heartfilia' and 'feelings for me' in the same sentence.

"NO!" Levy cried, nearly sprinting to the couch. "First lesson: you sit as close as possible to Natsu. Understood?"

Lucy's teeth clenched against the comeback that was, no doubt, at her lips, she slowly moved next to me, a painful expression etched across her face.

And, let's give a round of applause to Lucy Heartfilia for deflating my self-confidence some more!

Levy sat back and looked at us: at me with my incredulous/confused/exasperated face as I gazed vacantly at her, and at Lucy, who was wearing an expression that strongly implied she was in physical pain.

"We need to work on you guys. Desperately." Levy decided.

I groaned and flopped back into the sofa.

Let the training begin!

"LUCY! YOU ARE NOT BEING TORTURED! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SMILE AT HIM – DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK! DO IT!" Levy let out in a burst of frustration. Afterwards Lucy rolled her eyes some more, turned around and shot me a sickly sweet smile. I gulped and moved back a little. That smile looked absolutely terrifying, like she was plotting my death as she flashed her pearly whites at me.

Levy gave a little scream of frustration. "LUCY. LAYLA. HEARTFILIA." She snarled slowly. "I have been trying to get you to smile at Natsu for the past two hours. You will smile at him NOW, otherwise, so god help me, I WILL cut off your boobs and glue them to my chest. Capiche?"

Lucy turned around and shot me a dazzling smile.

Will whoever just sucked the air out of the room please put it back in? That would be greatly appreciated.

"Thank you." Lucy said with a little difficulty. "Mavis, I feel like I'm gaining silver hairs. Gajeel, am I wrinkling?"

"Nope." Gajeel came up and inspected her face. "But…wait, what's this?" He pointed at her forehead.

"What?" She asked, touching her forehead. "What is it?"

"Right…there." He pointed again, and her hand came up.

"What?" She felt around her forehead. "Where?"

"That little crease. Right there. What's that doing there Shorty?"

"I guess I'm stressing a little." Levy laughed, dropping her hand.

"There we go." He leaned over and kissed her forehead, right where the little crease had been. "Gihi, I don't like that crease. It makes you look all hassled. I like smiling Levy more, okay?"

She nodded, smiling. "Got it."

I glanced at Lucy and saw that there was a tender expression on her face.

"Have I ever told you that I approve – greatly – of Gajeel as a boyfriend?" She asked.

Levy laughed. "Not yet, no."

"Well, I do." She said, smiling happily at the two of them.

"But I'm still mad at you." Levy glared at Lucy.

"Why?" She asked innocently.

"Because you're being difficult and annoying. I'm aging prematurely because of you! I can feel the years adding onto my age, Lucy I-"

"OKAY!" I cut across loudly before Levy started going into cardiac arrest. "Levy, you go sit. I'll take it from here. Watch the master actor at work, people." I cracked my knuckles and rotated my head a little.

"Heartfilia?" I added.

"What?"

"Just play along, okay?" I winked at her, satisfied when I saw her eyes widening a little, and shot her a wide grin.

Taking a deep breath, I fastened a smile onto my face and walked towards her, using all of my self-control not to smirk at her terrified expression.

As I got close enough, I wrapped my arms around her small waist, which was a little difficult thanks to the fact that she was as stiff as a board, eyes wide and scared.

"Relax." I breathed in her ear, letting my breath wash across her skin. As I watched, goosebumps erupted along her neck. "Just play along."

"No way." She squeaked.

"Lucy." I murmured exasperatedly, letting my mouth just barely brush the bottom of her earlobe. She loosened a little bit. "You have to learn how to act. Just play along. We all know that this isn't real."

"I know how to act." She said indignantly, her voice still two octaves higher than usual. She stiffened again as I started kissing slowly down her neck. Doing that made fire erupt in the pit of my stomach, and all I wanted was more.

I might have to control that particular emotion a bit.

"Prove it." I whispered in her ear, making sure my voice was low and husky.

I know girls like that. Not sure about Lucy. I'm hoping she does, though. She took a deep breath and, with a little difficulty, let herself relax in my arms. I kissed her neck again, and as I leaned back to look at her face, her eyes fluttered shut. I grinned and nestled my head in her hair again.

"See?" I asked quietly against the side of her neck. "It's not that hard. You just have to relax. Enjoy it."

"Dragone –"

"Natsu." I cut across smoothly. "It's Natsu."

She breathed heavily for a moment. "Fine," She said in a strained voice, "Natsu, if you think I'm enjoying this, then you are very wrong – oh!"

Hearing my name come out her mouth does funny things to me, okay? It's the only reason I started sucking at her neck. Otherwise I totally wouldn't have. It's just…she smells like vanilla. Vanilla and candy apples, which shouldn't be an appealing combination, but it is. And then the way she said my name…Mavis, I should learn to control myself.

But how can I, when she's so obviously enjoying this?

She gasped again as I let my tongue gently touch her skin, and slid her hands around my neck and into my hair.

"Natsu…"She whispered, letting out a tiny moan when I started sucking again. "Natsu, stop. Stop it. You have to stop. We can't mmmmmmm…"

I silenced her incessant talking with my mouth, and she sighed contentedly into the kiss. I took the opportunity to make the first move this time and slide my tongue into her mouth, where it danced with hers.

It was pure, unadulterated bliss. The most amazing feeling in the world.

And fuck did I want more.

Very, very carefully, I let my hand lift up the bottom of her shirt, and I rested it gently against the skin at the small of her back, using that hold to pull her closer to me.

Thank you, Mavis!

She didn't pull away and slap me! No, instead she just made my life by moaning a little and sliding herself closer to me, pulling her body right up against mine. Her tongue moved faster, lips more urgent, hands pulling a little as they raked through my hair.

Oh, she wants it rough, does she? You want rough, Lucy Heartfilia? You are so getting it.

With a growl, I backed her up against the wall, pushing her up against it and holding her there with my body. She wrapped her legs around my waist, fingers massaging through my hair. I let my hands wander down, along her torso, and she sighed and arched into me, throwing back her head and tightening her legs. Deliberately, I let myself press harder into her hips, and she let out a low, throaty growl.

And I was done. Nothing else mattered anymore; all I could think about was the girl I was kissing. All I could feel was her, all I could taste was her, and all I wanted was more of her. I want her. Right now. Right here. She's mine.

My hand slipped up her shirt again, and as she kissed me ferociously, it wandered along her chest, touching every part of her. She seemed to enjoy that immensely; she growled again, pulling me even closer.

We have to stop. Mavis, we have to stop. I can't let this go too far, but I also can't stop. Stopping right now would be like physical pain. Torturous. But we have to. We're going too far, too fast.

All of a sudden, the need built up inside of me, and with a loud snarl, I pushed myself away from her, letting myself crash into a chair. "STOP!" I heard her catch her breath in surprise.

I stood there, eyes closed, head leaning against the wall, panting. "Stop," I gasped again. The world was spinning around me, and I felt like I was going to fall off any second. The air in between us seemed to ripple with a thousand invisible strings, pulling me towards her. No – they weren't strings. They were steel cables, and they were dragging me forward.

The thing was, I wanted to be dragged forward. And that made it even more difficult.

I didn't just want Lucy anymore. I needed her, just like I needed air, or water. And hearing her ragged breath from across the room seemed to drive that need even more, until I was using all of my will and self-control to press myself against the wall. As far away from her as possible.

But even that wasn't far enough. I was vividly aware of every one of her movements; every breath she took echoed in my ears, and even the slightest movements were picked up by my senses. My mind was clouded with Lucy. She was everywhere.

"I have to get out of here." I groaned, dropping my head in my hands.

Pain flooded through me, stamping out the need for Lucy. She hated me. I forced myself through the door and out into the hallway. Without another backwards glance, I sprinted. I just ran. As far away from her as I could get. I just ran.

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

I want him. Right here, right now. I need him.

I closed my eyes and breathed raggedly through my nose, fighting the power that Natsu Dragoneel had over me right now; fighting the want, the_ need_. His body seemed to pull me closer, and it was all I could do to stay away. But I HATE him. Right?

I could hear his footsteps pounding against the floor as he sprinted away from me.

Come back. Please. I need you.

No. I hate Natsu Dragoneel. I hate him.

Gah. I can't think right now. All I know is that I want him. That's it.

He's gone now, isn't he? He's stronger than I am. Or does he hate me so much, that his hate can overpower his want? That seems like a good explanation.

Does this mean that I don't hate him enough? I need to think about this again when I have my head on right.

"What. The. Fuck. Was. That." Levy asked in a shocked voice. I looked over, my mind still hazy, and saw that her expression was absolutely blown away. Gajeel was standing next to her, his jaw dangerously close to the floor.

"I don't KNOW ok?!" I said sliding to the floor

"You should probably go find Natsu," Levy said to him softly.

Gajeel sighed. "I bet the poor guy's going through hell right now."

"Psh he's probably already kissing another girl. Its just lust, Just a game to him." I seethed, head against the wall as I continued to fight.

"No, he's not." Gajeel's voice was colder. "He's not who you think he is, Lucy... When will you understand that?"

"What?" I opened my eyes to face him, but he was gone.

"Come on; let's get you upstairs." Levy said gently, helping me up.

* * *

"Sorry," Cana said, breathing heavily, "It's just, I mean…I can't believe you came up with something like that, Levy! It's fucking brilliant, but really, did you have to use Natsu?"

"Of course I did!" Levy said. "I couldn't ask Gajeel to do it, and I didn't want to hurt some other boy…Natsu was really the only option, since they've known each other for such a long time."

"But…" Cana's voice dropped down to a whisper. "What if he falls for her?"

Levy giggled. "Honestly, I'd be more worried about Lu falling for him."

I snorted, then let my face fall into a scowl. Fall in love with Natsu Dragoneel? Yeah, right. That'll be the day. Haha.

I couldn't see because my eyes were closed, but I was sure Cana was looking in disbelief at Levy.

"You don't know what he's like." Levy said seriously, her voice still sounding a bit amused. "Cana, this guy is perfect, he really is. I used to be in love with him back in freshman year until I went and fell for his best friend." She laughed at this.

"Hey, guys?" I asked. "I'm sure you guys are having tons of fun discussing Natsu Dragoneel and the fact that Levy used to be desperately in love with him, but could you, maybe, SHUT UP?!" I seethed while I rolled over and pulled the blanket up over my head.

I closed my eyes and let myself fall into the blackness, Dragoneel's face swirling in my dreams.

The next thing I knew, I was kissing him and it was perfect.

* * *

Don't Juuuudddddddddgggggggggggggeeeeeee Me. Though it was random I just really wanted to try writing a scene like that ;) (never have before) SO PLEASE tell me what you think, it means everything to me. Love all of you! Auf Wiedersehen!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey all! READ THIS

So since haven't exactly had the chance to personally reply to the FREAKING AMAZING (I LOVE YOU ALL MORE THEN YOU WILL EVER KNOW) reviews that have been left for me, I wanted to give some shout outs to some of you who are following my first erratic ass story and giving me feedback that makes me grin like an idiot... YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST SO MUCH FREAKING LOVE YOUR WAY I'M DOING THE LITTLE DANCE SPIRIT DOES TO GIVE MAKA GOD VIBES TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU :D *makamakamakamaka*

**Senbei x Cup Ramen **YES ALL HAIL LEVY huhuhu you totally crack me up :) thank youuuuuu *love*

** b2utifulshawl **thank you so much your feedback helps a ton and is so so so sweet :3

**CelestialLoverxxx **thank you for your support :3 youre so kind!

**Eternal Shipper **(I'm dying of fangirlitis right with you ;) and thank you *blush*

and** FairyTailChick44 **thank you for your follow and fave and sweet freak out :3

AND LASTLY TO **The Evil Stick **XD holy shit you make me laugh XD thank you for reading my other stories and sharing your quirks ;)

and oh wait! **Lollipopxx **! Hi :) no I'm not German *bummed* but I've been taking the language for years and really hope to do an exchange program there next year for a few months :D

again, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH I'm sooooooooooo excited to hear what you'll you have to say about my random attempts at writing that I just might explode *BOOM* oh damn... look... little bits of Kate goo are everywhere now... shoot

AND JUST BECAUSE OF HOW AMAZING THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN HERE IS THIS CHAPTER EARLY *grumbles* busted my ass to do this so ENJOY MY LOVES! Cheers!

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

The next morning when I woke up, I felt like absolute shit.

And that set the tone for the rest of the day. I mean, I don't really know yet, because I haven't had my day, but I heard from someone that if your morning starts off bad, the whole rest of the day will be just as shitty. So my hopes aren't really that high right now.

"Good morning!" Levy chirped happily as she used all her strength to wrench the covers off me. I immediately groaned and turned over onto my stomach, sore from being in one position for so long.

"What's so good about it?" I asked grumpily, burrowing myself under my blankets.

"The sun's a-shining! The birds are a-chirpin!" Levy cried ecstatically.

"Levy, shut up." Cana muttered from her bed. Levy ignored her.

"We're all alive, healthy, and very well! Which is a happy fact! Be happy with me, Lucy! HAPPINESS!" She warbled, jumping on my bed. I groaned louder and burrowed myself deeper, hoping that she would get the hint and go away.

Why, oh why, did Mavis have to infest this earth with disgustingly cheerful morning folks? People like her shouldn't be unleashed on the human population in the wee hours of the day. It should be made illegal to be that fucking happy at this ungodly hour.

"GO AWAY!" I finally yelled, yanking my covers up so that Levy landed on the ground with a loud 'THUMP!'.

"Jeez, Lucy. No need to be raining on my happy morning parade." With an irritated sniff, she started to the door, then turned around and jumped on Cana's bed, who screamed bloody murder.

"Cana still loves me, right Cana?" Levy asked joyfully, bouncing up and down.

"LEVY, I SWEAR TO MAVIS I WILL CASTRATE YOU IF YOU DON'T GET OFF MY BED THIS FUCKING INSTANT! EVEN IF IT'S NOT ANATOMICALLY POSSIBLE! I WILL FIND A WAY TO INFLICT THAT KIND OF PAIN ON YOU! " Cana shrieked, her voice stifled by her blankets.

I'm just a little frightened right now.

"Well, then. I hate you all!" With a dramatic gesture, Levy swept out of the room, and muttering angrily to herself, Cana punched her pillow a couple of times and then flopped, face first, onto it. I heard a pillow-muffled sentence that sounded vaguely like 'fucking insane woman', and grinned sleepily.

"By the way," Levy stuck her head in again. "You have fifteen minutes to get ready for class."

"FUCK!"

And that, my friends, proves that life sucks and shitty morning will most definitely turn into even shittier days.

* * *

I'm not amused. Neither is Cana.

Gajeel, stop laughing. Levy, shut up. This is not funny.

So, after our lovely friend Levy dropped the bomb on us and announce that we had all of fifteen minutes to make ourselves presentable to the general public, Cana and I naturally started running around like two chickens with their heads cut off.

Cana was frantically pulling on her skirt, peeing her guts out, and attempting to put eyeliner on at the same time, while I was taking a shower, brushing my teeth, and also applying eyeliner.

After hasty check-overs in the car to make sure we had all the vital pieces of clothing on (shirts, bras, skirts…) we had sprinted into the school, me barefoot with socks in my hands, my jacket flung over my sopping wet hair (rendering me basically incapable of sight), tie tied around my waist, both Cana and I with shirts buttoned wrong, her shoes on the wrong feet, bag in her mouth, and socks tucked into the waistband of her skirt.

And that was when we had skidded right in front of Gajeel and Levy, who were laughing like two inebriated hyenas. Why? Because Cana and I are gullible fools.

Because we don't have morning classes today.

The jacket slid off my head and onto the floor in a heap, leaving my hair as a rumpled mess. Cana was seething quietly, about two minutes away from exploding in rage.

And now would be a good time to back away very slowly from the dangerous human…

Careful, now…

"So, Cana, I'm loving that look on you." Levy smirked, taking in her partly unbuttoned/buttoned wrong shirt. Her gaze seemed to linger on her all-too-exposed chest a little longer than necessary.

"Perv," Cana muttered, dropping her things and attempting to fix her shirt without unbuttoning it all the way.

Of course, her being Cana, she would have trouble with something as simple as buttoning a shirt. Of course this everyday human function would be a challenge for her.

Levy cleared her throat. "Uhm, Lucy? You might want to–" She made a little hand motion, gesturing wildly at the air in front of her.

I stared. "What?"

She looked at me, like she was trying to tell me something really obvious. "You know." She said with emphasis, her eyes flicking all over the place like she had a nervous twitch of some sort.

I sighed patiently. "Levy, sweetie, despite what you may think, I really don't speak twitch."

"Lucy," Levy said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. "I'm trying to tell you to–" She leaned forward and mumbled incoherently in my ear.

"Was that even English?!" I asked as she pulled back.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" She yelled. "Button up your sh–"

"Nice bra, Heartfilia." Dragoneel said, smirking as he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Fuck.

I blushed a bright red and shot Levy a look, to which she shrugged and melted away. Then I looked down and swore loudly.

Of course, the day that my shirt decides to hang open from the top, I just had to be wearing a bra with little dancing snowmen on it.

Of course.

"Stop looking!" I said angrily as I fumbled hastily with the buttons, trying to get myself – and my embarrassing bra – covered up as fast as possible.

But then again, this is me, so it's only inevitable that karma get back at me right away for making fun of Cana and her inability to dress herself properly.

WHY WON'T THESE FUCKING BUTTONS STAY CLOSED?!

Dragoneel sighed loudly through his nose. "You can't even button your shirt properly?! What, do you get Levy to do them for you every morning?"

"Shut up." I defended brilliantly.

"Come here."

And, to my extreme and utter shock, Dragoneel gently pushed my hands away and – get this – started buttoning the shirt up himself.

Let me repeat that, just in case you're in shock and refuse to believe it.

Dragoneel. Is. Buttoning. Up. My. Shirt. For. Me.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I hissed, pushing him away after I had regained control of my brain.

"Buttoning up your shirt for you. You seem to be having a bit of trouble with it, sweetie." He shot me a charming, innocent grin, and I immediately became wary.

Dragoneel is not charming. And he is far, far away from innocent.

So I glanced around discreetly, and noticed that Jason Weekly was staring at the two of us, his mouth hanging wide open.

Oh.

I giggled helplessly, looking down. "Yeah, well…" I shrugged, then looked up at him through my lashes, pleased when he winked at me to show that I was doing okay.

"Here, let me help." He grabbed my waist and pulled me gently towards him; I stumbled slightly but his hands were there, steadying me. They left my hips and went back to buttoning up the shirt.

"So," His eyes were slightly wary as he looked at me. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." I said quietly, looking away. His fingers brushed gently against my collarbone as he finished the last button and I let out an involuntary shiver at the tingles that the graze caused.

"What about you?" I asked after a moment's silence, looking back at him. He shrugged and untied the tie from around my waist.

"I'm okay."

"That's good." I said absently, looking around sneakily and noticing that Jason was still staring at us. I quickly turned around and fastened a bright smile on my face.

"It looks fake." Dragoneel whispered, looking amused, as he began tying the tie for me. I scowled at him and stuck my tongue out – yes, I am very mature, thank you very much – making him smirk.

"Listen," He said haltingly, his fingers tying my tie. I watched, mesmerized by the deft way that they moved. "I'm really sorry about…last –" He cleared his throat. "Uh, last night."

I looked down. "Yeah, me too."

His hand quickly left the necktie, and I looked up in surprise, noticing the irritation in his eyes. "Why would you be sorry? I was the one that kissed you! And just for practice –what was I thinking?!" He raked a hand through his hair, then bent down and picked up my jacket. I just stood there, frozen, my shoes and socks still clutched tightly in my hands.

"Uh, Dragoneel? I kissed you back." I said, looking at him like he was missing the obvious. "I kissed you back and enjoyed every minute of it! It's not just your fault, it's mine, too. Don't – don't beat yourself up over it."

"You don't regret it?" He asked, surprised.

"Do you?" I countered.

He grinned. "I asked you first."

I sighed. "Well, I wish it didn't happen, but I don't…exactly…regret it, per se."

"Me neither." He said, and his green eyes were clear and truthful.

I'm happy you don't regret anything with me…" I snorted, "Bet that's a first haven't you gotten to do the dirty with half a hundred girls in that same scenario?"

I think that may have been a bit too blunt.

Anger flashed across his face. "No, I haven't." He said through gritted teeth.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, Dragoneel, I just –"

"For your information, I don't go around thinking of different ways to get into girls pants, okay? What do you think I am anyway, some sort of womanizer?" He demanded, taking a step forward. I mirrored his move, except in the opposite way.

"N-no," I shook my head frantically. "No, I don't, I'm sorry, that just sort of slipped out –"

"I have never had sex before. Surprise you?" He snarled.

"Not really, no." I said airily, shrugging.

"WELL, THAT JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT – what?" He asked, disconcerted.

"That doesn't surprise me." I repeated. "Because despite all the things that I say, I know that you respect women and that you wouldn't just fuck someone for funsies."

"Really?"

"I grew up with you, Dragoneel. Obviously, some of my amazing manners and good morals rubbed off on you at least a little." I flipped my hair back and hitched a large, cocky grin on my face.

He laughed. "Right."

"More like, it was Jellal." I said. "The man's too fucking perfect."

"I know." Natsu agreed. "It's like he's a robot or something."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "A robot."

"Dancing snowmen." He smirked and raised an eyebrow.

I scowled. "Shut up, okay? It was a present from Virgo. She thought it was cute and I really couldn't find anything else this morning, so I just threw it on and ran down the stairs. Seriously, you should be glad that I'm not wearing my 'Key' one, it's pretty random, cows and maids and shit, Or my 'celestial' one; there's this huge picture of the Spirit King on the left boob, and everyone else squished onto the right one…OH! And there's that one with the family portrait, I think even you're on it…"

Wow. I have weird bras.

An odd look crossed Dragoneels's face. "Uh, yeah." He said awkwardly. "Me. On your bra. That's not weird at all."

I shrugged. "It's not! Aunt Ultear gives me one every year; it's sort of a tradition. And they all have to be weird, otherwise it's not right."

"Okay." He looked as though he dearly wished to talk about something else.

"Don't worry, though, I have normal bras, too. I mean, how awkward would that be if someone threw me in the pool and I came out and everyone could see my 'Fairies Pwn' bra?!"

"Extremely." He said, sounding deeply traumatized.

"Anyway, what about you?" I asked him.

He looked at me, eyes wide. "I don't wear bras!"

"Duh." I rolled my eyes. "Do you have any weird clothes?"

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

"Duh," She rolled her pretty brown eyes. "Do you have any weird clothes?"

My mind flashed to the pair of boxers that Bisca had gotten me for my birthday one year, as a sick joke. They had the words 'Property of Lucy Heartfilia' etched all over them.

Yeah, I was definitely going to tell her about those.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. She looked slightly crestfallen.

"Well, that's no fun." She said. "We have to get you some weird boxers!"

Lucy Heartfillia might possibly be the weirdest person to ever grace this planet.

Mavis, I love her.

I glanced around again, wondering why on earth she was still standing there talking to me about bras – in a very friendly manner, mind you – and I saw that Jason Weekly was still standing right where he had been, his jaw still hanging dangerously low to the ground.

So I grinned at her hopeful expression. "How about I take you shopping this weekend and we go shopping for some?"

She bit her lip, then let her eyes flash around. "Like… like sort of a date?" She asked hesitantly.

I shrugged. "Yeah, sort of."

"So does that mean you're sort of asking me out?" She cocked her head to the side a little.

"I guess I sort of am." I grinned.

"Well, then sure. Sort of." She smiled a half-smile at me, then, glancing over to see that Jason Weekly was still standing there, leaned forward to kiss me shyly on the cheek.

"You didn't have to do that." I mouthed at her, looking amused as she pulled back, blushing profusely.

"I know." She mouthed back.

"Cool. It's time for breakfast." I offered her my arm. "Shall we?"

She took it, grinning. "We shall."

We marched into the caf, and I grabbed Gadget by the collar along the way. He let out a sound of protest and indignation as his face got ripped off of Levy's, and she laughed at him flailing around and cursing as she walked behind us, buttoning her shirt.

…hold on. Why was her shirt unbuttoned?!

Oh dear Mavis, please don't tell me they were attempting to get it on in the quad! Not cool, man! NOT COOL!

* * *

"No! You're supposed to wave your wrist like this." I grabbed Levy's wrist and guided it in the right way. Her eyebrows furrowed in the middle as she concentrated, Gajeel smiled.

It's sort of weird, how much he loves her. And to think she thought he was an insufferable ass until last year...

What can I say? I am an amazing matchmaker. It should be, like, my job or something: Natsu Dragoneel, Fairy High's Matchmaker.

Wow, that sounds stupid.

"Um, no. You do it like this." Lucy grabbed Levy's wrist and directed it another way. The frown deepened on Levy's face.

"No, Lucy, I recall the teacher telling us that it was like this." I took hold of Levy's wrist, my hand on top of Lucy's, and moved it across the canvas adding a new streak of red as I went.

"Uh, no, it was like this. Natsu." She spat out, yanking Levy's arm the other way.

Levy's eyes grew wider. "Um…guys? That's sort of my wrist that you're –"

"You do it like this." I pulled it the right way.

Levy let out a small noise of pain. "Guys? That's kind of starting to –"

"It's like this." She jerked it her way.

Levy whimpered, eyes wide.

"Like this, Heartfilia." I tugged it the right way.

Levy whimpered louder.

"It's like THIS, Dragoneel!" Levy nearly went flying as Lucy dragged on her arm.

"You're going to hurt her!" I hauled her towards me, and Levy stumbled, terror still etched on her face.

"You're hurting her!" Lucy yelled, lugging Levy towards her. Levy tripped over her own foot and went sprawling; luckily, Gajeel caught her. He pulled her safely out of Lucy's grip, glaring at the two of us.

"You're both hurting her." He said angrily. "And you're both doing it wrong."

Lucy ignored him, marching up to me so that she was right up in my face. "I was doing it right!" She said defiantly.

"No, you were doing it wrong!" I shot back.

She stepped, hard, on my foot and I growled angrily and grabbed the tops of her arms.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled, trying to kick me; but I safely moved out of the way.

After years of dodging her physical abuse, I've gotten quite good at it. Call it a talent, if you will.

"Stop physically abusing me!" I countered, still holding on to her as I moved around two more kicks.

"I can physically abuse you as much as I want!" She yelled.

"Then, fine! I can touch you as much as I want!" I shot back.

…whoa, that came out wrong.

Gajeel smirked. "That's what she said."

With an exasperated scream, she wrenched away from me. "I hate you!" She yelled, her face bright red. "I hate you!"

"GOOD! I FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT YOU!" I roared back at her.

"Oh, hey Jason." Levy said nervously.

Shit. Noticing that Jason Weekly was wearing a rather smug look on his face as he gazed happily at us, I wracked my brain to come up with a way to fix this, quick, inwardly enjoying the red flush on her face as she screamed at me.

Ah, hate. It's such a passionate emotion. Not that much different from lurve.

"You're the most insufferable, annoying, conceited, arrogant, person that I have ever had the misfortune to meet!" She shrilled. "I hate you so much, sometimes I wonder what I must have done in my past life to deserve having to put up with you! It's – just – ARGH! I FUCKING HATE YOU, YOU FUCKING – MMPH!"

Really, the only way to fix this was to kiss her.

Well, there could have been better ways, but this was the easiest.

(And the most enjoyable for me.)

In two quick strides, I had crossed over to her, grabbed her face, and slammed my mouth roughly onto hers, cutting off whatever she was screaming at me.

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

What the fuck?! So, here I am, freaking out at Dragoneel, then all of a sudden this weird look comes across his face. Then, the next thing I know, he's kissing me.

Who the fuck does that?!

His lips moved roughly over mine, and his hands grabbed tightly at my waist, making an odd, low hum erupt from the back of my throat. He hummed back in response, and I found myself gripping his shoulders and pulling him towards me as his lips stayed glued to mine, pushing against them more and more. I felt his tooth knock slightly against mine, and my hands found their way into his hair.

I hate him. I hate that he kisses me so well. I hate that his hair is soft, that his lips are warm and firm, that he tastes so fucking good, that wherever he touches me, I feel fire.

I hate that I enjoy when he touches me. I hate that I enjoy when he kisses me.

I hate that I like it. A lot.

I hate that his warm breath fills my mouth with a sweet taste, that his tongue doesn't feel gross and slimy as it moves over mine.

I hate that he makes me moan in pleasure with the way he kisses me, with everything he's got.

I fucking hate him.

I distinctly heard the sound of something slamming against something else, and (reluctantly) tore myself away from Dragoneel to see. I was breathing heavily as I gazed blankly at Jason Weekly – what the hell is he doing here? – who looked murderous.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Jason, arms still around Dragoneel's neck, fingers still in his hair.

"I heard noises. Thought you were fighting." Jason said shortly.

"We were." I rolled my eyes. "We always are."

"I guess that's what makes us so…explosive." With a smirk at Jason, Dragoneel then proceeded to bury his face in my hair, his lips lightly touching my neck.

"Explosive?" I asked, gasping slightly at the feel of his tongue.

"Mmm. Very." His voice was low and husky, and I shuddered lightly.

"It seemed like a pretty serious fight." Jason Weekly said, eyes narrowed as he looked at us suspiciously.

"You're so sexy when you're mad." Dragoneel murmured in my ear, ignoring Jason Weekly completely. My face blossomed red.

"And when you do that." He touched a finger to my burning cheek. I smiled sheepishly, looking down.

Fuck, he's a good actor.

I gasped again as Dragoneel buried his face in my neck once more.

"This. Is. A. Joke." Jason Weekly said in a low, angry voice. "There's no way in hell this is for real."

I laughed, the sound still slightly breathless. "I beg to differ, Weekly."

"Prove it." I looked over to see that Levy and Gajeel had somehow sneaked away (jerks) and Jason was standing there, arms crossed.

Dragoneel – er, Natsu pulled his head out of my hair and whipped around to glare at Jason. "We don't need to prove anything to you."

"Fine, then." Jason Weekly shrugged. "I know it's not for real. And Lucy…you will fall in love with me."

"No, I won't." I snapped at him in a dangerous voice. "I. WILL. NOT. Okay, Jason? Get that through your incredibly thick skull: I. LIKE. NATSU. DRAGONEEL. I will not, EVER, EVER fall for you."

After rolling his eyes, he turned to Natsu, eyebrow raised. Natsu shrugged. "I've been in love with her since I was three."

I'm feeling slightly nauseous all of a sudden. It feels like a gajillion butterflies are flapping around in my stomach right now – it's slightly uncomfortable, yet oddly pleasant.

Jason Weekly snorted. "Yeah, okay."

"I'm a really good actor." He said, perfectly serious, still looking at Jason Weekly in a menacing way. "And–" Here he gently disengaged himself from me and walked up to Jason, towering over him. " – I've waited _years_ for her to fall for me. No one, especially not you, is going to take that away from me. Understood?"

"I'm not backing down." Jason Weekly stood up to his full, five-four glory (snort) and glowered right back at Natsu.

Whoa, this is intense. I sort of wish I brought some popcorn.

"You're hardly going to be a challenge." Dragoneel scoffed.

"I'll make your time with her pure hell." Jason scoffed. "Just you wait and see."

With that, he smiled gently at me, glowered once more at Natsu, and swept out of the room. Natsu's hands were curled into fists and he was literally shaking in rage as he turned towards me, eyes dark and angry.

"Whoa there" I said, walking up to him and putting a hand on his head. "Calm. Down, boy."

"He. Will. Fucking. Die." Dragoneel growled, still staring at the door.

I looked at him in amusement for a moment.

"You're cute." I decided.

Dragoneel's eyes snapped back onto mine and then widened. "Um, excuse me? Cute?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Cute."

"No." He shook his head.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Well, I think you're cute. So there." With that, I walked to the door. "Coming to lunch, Natsu?"

"I'm NOT cute." He argued as he followed me out.

"Um, yes you are."

"Come on! Cute is a little baby. Cute is a puppy. I'm not cute!"

"Fine." I said resignedly. "You're cute in a sexy sort of way, DON'T –" I spun around and pointed a finger at him. " – let that get to your head."

"Wouldn't dream of it, darling." Wearing a self-satisfied smirk, he took my hand and walked the rest the way to the down the hallway, looking as though he had definitely let that get to his head.

Fucking idiot.

* * *

"Oh! Do the roar again!"

Natsu screwed up his face, and let out an ear shattering roar. I burst out laughing again.

Natsu. Is. A. Riot!

"Jeez, Luce, it's not that funny." Levy said in a bemused voice.

"He – he looks like – like, bahaha – like a-!" I gasped out, then collapsed in hysterics again, slumping forward onto the table.

"Ah," I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. "Brings back memories, that does."

"Pranking memories." Natsu reminisced, and we stared off into space for a little while.

I came back to reality, and then looked at Natsu for a moment. "Why are you afraid of everything staying the same'?" I asked him.

"Because it…" He took a deep breath and looked down at the table. "I don't know."

"I think you do."

He continued looking at everything but me.

"But you don't have to tell me. It's not my business." I leaned back and spooned some more soup in my mouth. Natsu blinked at me, completely shocked.

"You're not going to make me tell you?" He asked blankly.

"Nope. We're not even really, you know…" I looked around and leaned across to whisper. "Friends."

"We need to fix that." Natsu said seriously.

I just shrugged. "You're right, I guess."

"Because, you know what Lucy Heartfilia?" His eyes were bright as they looked at me.

"What, Natsu Dragoneel?" I asked, pulling the soup spoon out of my mouth with a loud smack! and dipping it in for some more.

"You're not actually that bad." He grinned at me.

Apparently, that was supposed to be some sort of a compliment. We need to give him some compliment lessons.

A slow half-smile spread across my face as I looked at him. "You're not so bad yourself."

* * *

favorite quotes? thoughts? suggestions? predictions? i would love to hear them in a review *wink wink* *wwwwwiiiinnnnkkkkkk* *WINKKKK WINK-WINK-WINK-WINK-WINK-WINKITY-WINK-WINK* Also shout out for sorta queer Levy;)! You have a problem you are welcome to fight me over it.

right now it's the middle of the night, and I'm chilling in my snuggie (skulls and crossbones :3) so that i can update this. urgh, i'm fallingasleep at my laptop. sorry if i dont make any sense. until next time! Cheers! *makamakamaka*

P.S i posted another oneshot... bixanna... if ur interested in a super random quick read give it a shot and tell me what u think? :3 still trying out different writing styles!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey there my peeps! SSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i have a new story up called Shaved Ice that takes place before this one... and i would LOVE/APPRECIATE it so very very very much if you all would go check it out at tell me what you think? :)

This goes to all you guys thanks for **reviewing** and reading this!

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

"Hold up, Princess." A large hand wrapped itself around my wrist as I attempted to leave Erza's little party.

"What?" I asked Natsu.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Um. Bed? To, you know, go to sleep? It's sort of early, but I think I'll go home and read or something."

"No, you're not." He decided for me.

"I'm not?"

"Nope."

"Um. Okay." Be open to it, Lucy. "Where am I going, then?"

"With me."

"With you."

"That's right."

"Where, exactly, with you?"

"You'll see."

"Right, well, you see, I'm, ah, sort of really tired, so maybe – oh-kay, maybe not." I said as he wrapped an arm around my waist and picked me up about an inch off the floor. He started walking towards the door, a backpack of some sort slung over his shoulder.

"What's that for?" I asked, craning my neck to look at the backpack.

"It's got all your stuff in it. Levy packed it for me."

"Whoa, wait." I wriggled to driveway in front of his car and spun around to face him. "I'm supposed to go to sleep at…wherever we're going?"

"Yep." His eyes were dancing with excitement. "It's sort of our thing. Gajeel and I go there all the time. He's already brought Levy, so I thought you should also go."

I looked at him, at his eager face and his hands gently pushing me toward the passenger door.

"Are there two sleeping bags in there?" I finally asked in a resigned voice, and his smile grew.

"Nope." He said cheerfully. "Just one, let's go."

"But where am I supposed to sleep?!" I asked as he pushed me into the car "Natsu stop it!"

"You'll sleep on the bed, and no."

* * *

"There's a bed?"

"Yes. Will you stop squirming?"

"No! I am perfectly capable of walking by myself! I don't need to be carried around like a small child!"

"But I have to carry you there. It's tradition." He said earnestly, and hoisted me more comfortably in his arms so that I lay across them, bridal-style. I straightened out and slung an arm around his neck so I wouldn't go flapping back.

"So you mean you carried Gajeel there as well?" I asked in a dry voice as he continued to walk briskly through the woods on the edge of the park we parked at.

"No, but he carried Levy there."

"You guys are so weird." I rolled my eyes and leaned my head against my arm.

"That's what makes us so special!"

"Yeah, special."

"Low blow, Lu."

"Call me Lucy." I said quietly after a moment.

He stiffened. "Why? Don't your friends call you Lu?"

"Yeah… well just Levy… but I like the way you say Lucy. Like you're singing it or something." I murmured, hoping he wouldn't hear.

Apparently, he heard it. "Lucy!" He sang in a dorky voice.

I laughed. "Don't ever do that again."

"LuCCCCYYYYYYYYY!"

"NEVER AGAIN, Natsu!"

"LU- CCCCCCCCCYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"I think my ears just died."

"You loved it."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm still recovering from your blatant abuse of singing rights."

"At least I'm not as bad as Jason Weekly." He chuckled.

"Ugh." I shuddered. "Please don't remind me."

"What were those lyrics again? Something about animals stampeding through a park of luuuurve?" I squealed and hung on tighter as he spun around.

"I would rather not relive that painful memory." I said in a voice shaking with controlled laughter.

"It was pretty funny."

"Shut up."

"Admit it."

"Shut up."

"Come on, Lucy, it was funny."

"Okay. Fine. It sort of was."

"Okay. Up you go." He said after a moment, and I looked up in surprise to see that we were standing in front of a ladder.

"Whoa, I didn't even notice we were all the way out here." I said in a wondering voice, looking around in awe at the trees that surrounded me. The sky glowed as the sun set, the golden clouds shining in the star dusted darkening sky.

"You know this time of day?" Natsu said from under me as we climbed.

"Sunset?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Sunset, but with the stars out?"

"Yes. It's really beautiful."

He smiled. "I used to call it Lucy's twilight"

"Lucy's twilight?" I questioned.

"Yeah." He hoisted himself up and sat down next to me on the wooden ledge that jutted out from what seemed to be a tree house. "It's twilight, but there's still gold from the day…"

"How do you get the term 'Lucy' from gold clouds?" I asked with a bemused smile.

He grinned at me. "Your hair's gold." He tugged lightly on a lock and I scowled.

"So? What does my hair have to do with it?"

"It looks like gold. Gold, Lucy, Lucy's twilight." He said matter-of-factly.

"But you came up with this term as a little kid."

He smiled softly.

"I barked out a dazed sort of laugh. "Um, wow. I never really thought you cared."

"That's where you're wrong." He said seriously. "It's like I said before, I never hated you, Lucy."

"I made myself believe I hated you because I thought you hated me." I replied softly, looking over the trees again.

"I acted like I hated you because I thought you hated me." He shook his heads. "Wow, we're idiots."

"Come on, let's go inside." He offered me his hand, and I took it, letting him haul me to my feet.

I looked put over the ledge, "Oh, wow!" I gasped just as the sun hit the perfect spot in the sky. It glowed a brilliant, bright gold, shooting out through the blue. Stars were dusted across the sky, and the whole thing gave an effect of being absolutely surreal.

His face was serene as he looked at the sky. "Isn't it magical?"

"Extremely." I agreed, looking at the amazing scene in front of me. "This is amazing, Natsu."

"It's absolutely beautiful." He said, looking at me.

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

"It's absolutely beautiful." You're absolutely beautiful.

I gazed at the side of her face, watching as the sun made it glow. Her big brown eyes had never looked more beautiful as they sparkled even more than the sky; it was like a bunch of stars jumped down and landed in them. Her golden hair shone looked a million times brighter than the golden clouds.

Suddenly, loving Lucy Heartfilia didn't seem like such a bad thing after all.

She's still holding my hand. I will refrain from whooping and jumping about in joy.

The sun set behind the earth, and there was just a faint light left in the sky. She turned to me, her face still glowing.

"I feel like I'm in a fairytale right now." She said wonderingly.

"And, naturally, I'm the Prince Charming, right?" I grinned at her, and she laughed.

"Sure." She replied easily. "I'll be the princess."

"Well, then." I bowed and swept my hand towards the tree house. "Shall we, your majesty?"

She giggled. "We shall, Prince Charming."

She walked ahead, pulling me behind, her hand still clasped firmly in mine. "You know, we could have been best friends if we weren't such idiots."

I feel like something inside me is flying right now. "We can start now." I suggested.

"Okay!" She agreed. "We can do best friend-like things, like – oh, wow!" She gasped as we entered the tree house. I grinned as I took a look around it. Ah, home sweet home, with the one bed that Gadget and I always fought over, never wanting to change it by adding another bed, and the television that we'd somehow managed to sneak in and rig up.

All in all, it was pretty tricked out.

"You like it?" I asked her, letting her hand go as, with a squeal of excitement, she ran over to the iPod stand.

"Like it?" She asked enthusiastically, putting down my iPod and spinning around, taking in the room. "I love it! How'd you guys manage to do these things?" She picked up the remote and clicked a button, beaming as the screen lit up and one of our earlier hockey games came on. I watched as screen-Lucy shot the puck to screen-Natsu and screen-Natsu sent it careening towards the visitor's goalie, making him drop to the side of the net just a split second too late. Screen-Lucy and Screen-Natsu grinned at each other.

That was always my favorite part; she smiled at me.

"A lot of work." I said, flopping down on the sofa and putting my feet up. "It took a good year and a half to make, but it was so worth it."

"This place is amazing." She said, perching on the sofa as she continued her attempt to look at everything all at once.

"You want to eat or drink something?" I asked, getting up and heading towards our little bar/kitchen.

"You have food in here?" She asked joyfully, following me and sitting on a barstool as I ducked behind the counter.

"Of course." I replied, rooting through the refrigerator. "You want iced tea or soda?"

"Iced tea, please." She said, still sounding a bit absentminded. I pulled out two bottles and handed one to her, popping my own open and taking a sip.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I asked her.

"What?" She squeaked. Her face turned bright red. "Ah, sorry. Um…I don't really mind."

I gave her an odd look. "Okay."

"Let's go back outside again." She said quickly, turning around and nearly bolting to the door.

So, that was weird.

I found her outside, looking up at the sky. "I love stars." She murmured as I came up next to her, looking at the side of her face. "They're the best part of night."

I smiled. "Yeah. It's so relaxing to just stand and look at them, you know?"

"Yeah," She said in a surprised tone, and I saw her looking at the side of my face out of the corner of my eye. "Have you ever wondered, that maybe, each and every one of those stars is another sun for another earth? And that there are people over there who are just like us, or maybe even different?"

"That's a lot of people." I muttered, taking in the millions of tiny lights. "Makes you feel really insignificant."

"It does." She agreed.

"When I was little," I began haltingly. "Makarov used to tell me that every one of those stars is someone who died. Someone who was really brave, someone who couldn't be forgotten, so as a tribute, they got put up there to watch over us all the time."

Her soft hand slipped into mine. "Which one's your dad?" She asked quietly.

"That one." I pointed to the brightest star in the sky. Her hand squeezed mine.

"Hi, Igneel," Lucy whispered. "How's it going? I never really got to know you. But, you know, I'm sure that you were a fabulous person. And I'm not just saying that. I really mean it. Makarov and my dad talk about you all the time."

My heart hurts.

"I wish I could meet you again, just once. But even if I can't, that's okay, because I've got Natsu here. I bet he's just like you. You should be really proud – I bet you are." Her breath hitched slightly.

I squeezed her hand. "He says thank you." I said, still looking at the star.

"What about – my mom?"

I swallowed. "How about right up there next to the moon."

She leaned into me. "What about Simon?"

I put my arm around her shoulder and pointed up to the sky with my other hand. "He's right there. Sometimes he disappears. He's a tricky one."

She gave a watery laugh. "Why do people die?" She finally asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't know." I finally said. "Maybe because whoever's up there needs them more than we do down here."

And that's when she put both arms around me and pressed her face into my chest, her shoulders shaking with her sobs.

I looked up at the sky. "Thanks, dad." I mouthed.

"I'm really sorry." She bit her lip as she looked at my ruined shirt. Wow, that girl cries a lot! It's absolutely soaked!

"It's okay." I assured her, digging through the closet. Mavis, we have extra gloves in here, but we don't think to keep a freaking shirt.

"I didn't mean to cry! I hate crying. I'm an unattractive crier." She sniffed. "Ugh, I'm so freaking emotional! I'm so sorry!"

"Lucy, it's fine. Really." I leaned around the door to smile at her.

"Never do that again." She commanded.

"Do what?" I asked as I dug through the clothes again, just hoping that a shirt would miraculously pop out.

"Get all sweet and emotional on me." She said.

I rolled my eyes. "My bad, sorry."

"Did you find anything?"

"Nope." I sighed and closed the door shut with a loud snap, then pulled my shirt off, wadding it up and throwing it in the corner of the room.

"Um." She quickly looked at something else. "Let's watch some television."

"Okay. What do you want to watch?" I asked.

She swallowed. "It doesn't matter."

I shrugged, then walked over to the sofa, snagging the remote along the way. "How about home videos?" I asked, rifling through some of the DVD's I had with me.

"Uh, that's fine." Her voice was rather high-pitched.

"Alright." I put it on and turned to flop down on the sofa, throwing my arm over the back of it. She was sitting stiffly next to me, staring straight ahead.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked her uncertainly.

"Who me?" She asked, still in that high-pitched voice. "Oh, yeah, I'm just peachy." She glanced over at me, her eyes flitting down to my chest, then gave a loud, nervous laugh and quickly looked back at the screen.

"Peachy." I raised an eyebrow at her, a smirk growing on my face.

"That's right. Hey, look, there's Grayl!" She pointed at the screen, then gave another nervous giggle and gingerly leaned back, clearing her throat awkwardly.

What is up with her?

"Are you sure you're fine?" I asked her again, and her face turned bright red again.

"Yes. I'm fine." She bit out. Her eyes slanted sideways at my bare chest again.

Oh. Oooooooh. OH!

"OH!" I exclaimed. "Do you want me to wear a shirt or something? Is that why you're so uncomfortable?"

"What? No, I'm fine. Really." She said. "It's got nothing to do with your, erm…lack of shirt."

"Okay." I shrugged – I liked not wearing a shirt – and slung the arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards me. I was surprised when, instead of pulling away/slapping me like I expected her to, she nestled into my side, leaning her head against the side of my neck.

"You're comfortable." She said. "Like a teddy bear!"

I grunted. How lovely. I remind her of a teddy bear.

"Except – for – these – rock – hard – muscles." She muttered, shifting around and elbowing my stomach in the process. I grinned.

"That's what happens when you –" I started.

" – spend most of your life playing hockey, I know. Even I have abs. I kinda hate them, but, hey!" She shrugged. "We all make sacrifices to play the game that we love."

"Very true." I said.

She giggled as we watched me dump a whole bowl of milk on Wendy's head. Wendy peered up at us through the milk, his her dark eyes bewildered, and then her eyebrows scrunched up in anger. She promptly turned around and punched me in the gut, and with a cry of pain, I fell over backwards. Then we both burst into tears.

"I miss her." I said wistfully.

"Me too." She sighed.

The last thing I remember was Bickslow and Erza laughing while I let out another roar, and Lucy's hand on my chest. Then it slid to my stomach and her face turned into my neck. And my eyes closed as I pulled her closer to me, finally falling asleep with the scent of vanilla surrounding me.

* * *

Ugh, there's something hot against my chest. It keeps breathing on me. And something's tickling my ear. It's soft and it smells like…vanilla.

Lucy.

I frowned and opened my eyes, squinting my eyes slightly against the glare of the sunlight as it filtered through the windows of the tree house. Then I glanced down and nearly died of happiness.

Lucy Heartfilia is sleeping on me. Yes, that's right. She is sleeping on me. Me! Not Jason Weekly, not my cat, not some other guy, but me. Natsu Dragoneel. Me.

Her legs were curled up against mine, her hand was resting against my stomach, and her head was on my chest, her hair splayed out above her head and tickling my neck. My arm was somehow around her, holding her to me – ow, she was sleeping on it, now it's numb.

Oh, well. I am currently too busy being the happiest guy alive to care about that right now.

She yawned and shifted, making a content humming sound. I watched as she moved her hand over my muscles again, a confused frown on her face. Then her chocolate brown eyes opened and her frown deepened as she gazed at her hand. Her eyes moved up slowly to my face – Mavis, I hope my smile doesn't look creepy or something – and she smiled, relieved.

"Good morning." She said sweetly, pulling herself up. "For a second I forget where I was, and I got really worried." She laughed and I grinned at her, sitting up and stretching out.

"Ugh." I said, cracking my back. "That is the last time I fall asleep on the couch. Never again."

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"It's not a big deal." I shrugged. She bit her lip, then looked around.

"What time is it?"

"Time for us to head back and get ready for that shopping trip." I told her wisely, gathering up the stuff we needed and heading out to the balcony. She followed me out, pulling in a deep breath of the fresh morning air.

"Wow," She whispered, taking in the view. "This is absolutely breathtaking."

I looked out over the tree tops, to my house (mansion.. whatever Gajeel) which was just passed the woods. The clouds rolled lazily through the blue sky, and the sun shone over it all.

"It is." I agreed with her.

She giggled and worked her way down the ladder, taking my arm and pulling me down as well. I tried to hide my wide grin as best as I could.

I failed.

Well, it was worth a shot.

"That was the best…er…hanging out?...I've ever had!" She declared.

"Um, I do believe that qualifies as our first date."

"First unofficial date." She corrected. "We have our first real date today."

"Well, actually I guess the date started last night, so it was included in the 'first date' package." I haven't ever given another girl a date like that! She can't just go around denying that it was a date. Granted, we didn't really kiss or anything (since Jason Weekly wasn't there…), but still. It qualifies.

"Okay." She shrugged. "As long as the word 'date' is somewhere in there for Jason Weekly to see, I'm perfectly fine."

I tried to hide my scowl.

I failed.

It was still worth a shot.

"But," She nudged me with her shoulder, grinning happily. "It was still the best date ever. I don't think a girl could ask for anything more, Natsu. It was fantastic."

I feel like I'm flying right now.

Oh, the things that Lucy Heartfilia does to me. This cannot be healthy.

* * *

Please review all!

I dunno how many of you are One Piece fans but when I read you reviews (and I read EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of them) I turn into chopper and do a little wiggle and everything….

and because I'm going to shamelessly ask for more, go read _Shaved Ice_!


	8. Chapter 8

This is almost it guys. Here is the second to last chapter of my little high school fic and first real writing I've ever done :)

**If you want to read more though you should really check out my other story Shaved Ice, it's basically**** going to end up like a prequel.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

"You're here! Finally, took you long enough! Come on, get in the shower!" As soon as I stepped into my room I was seized by Levy and then unceremoniously shoved into the shower, fully clothed.

"Hi to you, too, Levy!" I yelled, sputtering out some water. Grumbling, I pulled my clothes off.

"We have an hour to get ready! What took you so long?!" She screamed at me, and through a hole in the fog I saw that she was hurrying to pull her hair into a headband as Cana applied eyeliner.

"I had a great time, thanks for asking!" I shot back sarcastically, wadding up my sopping clothes and chucking them over the shower door. A wet slapping sound followed by a squeal of disgust and several swear words told me that they had hit someone.

"I can't believe you guys slept in during your first date with Natsu!" She moaned.

Cana snarled from the doorway "Look what you did to my hair!"

Oh shit I hit Cana.

"Yeah, it was fantastic. His tree house is beautiful, way to tell me about it." I said.

"Lucy, you have to fix my hair! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Yes, and then I accidentally fell asleep on him, it was pretty embarrassing but still okay. He's got amazing muscles."

"My fucking ha– wait, what?"

I laughed and clambered out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my body. "Now you pay attention."

"You fell asleep on Natsu?" Levy asked blankly.

"Yeah, we were watching home videos and –"

"How do you know he has amazing muscles?" Cana cut across, clearly only interested in Natsu's abs.

"He wasn't wearing a shirt."

"WHAT?!" She thundered, eyes wide.

"Calm down, he didn't have another one and the one that he was wearing was soaking wet, so he just took it off." I rolled my eyes hip bumped her out of the way to grab the hair dryer.

"Why?" Levy asked.

"What is this, twenty questions?" I cried. "I'm not telling you why." I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Come on, Lu!" She begged following me into the room. "Tell me!"

"No way. You didn't tell me anything about your first date with Gajeel! I thought best friends were supposed to tell each other everything." I pouted, pulling out a pair of underclothes.

"I was sworn to secrecy!" She insisted. "Really, I was! Look, I'll tell you everything now. So, he carried me to the tree house, and then we watched the sunset and then we kissed a lot and he fell asleep on the couch and let me sleep on the bed."

"Pretty much the same, except we didn't kiss and we both fell asleep on the couch. Plus I may have accidentally felt him up while I was waking up." I bit my lip. I really hope he didn't take that the wrong way.

"What." Cana asked, mouth agape. "You got to feel Natsu's muscles?! OH MY GOD! HIS BODY IS POSSIBLY THE HOTTEST THING EVER!"

"Wait, don't you have a new boyfriend?" I exclaimed while she had a mini freak-out.

"So?! It doesn't mean I can't freak out over the fact that my best friend felt up Natsu Dragoneel's muscles!" She moaned. "Oh my god, I am so jealous! Lucy!"

"So, what am I wearing?" I asked, standing barefoot in girly boxers and bra as I gazed at the open closet that held my, Levy's and Cana's clothes.

"You should just wear that." Cana smirked. I hit her over the back of her head.

"Ouch, Lucy! I told you not to do that, your freakish hockey muscles fucking hurt." She rubbed the back of her head.

"Whoops." I intoned flatly, glaring at her.

"I'll get you back for that." She warned. "Unless I forget. Or I'm feeling too lazy."

"You're always feeling too lazy."

"Shut up."

She stood in front of the closet with me and for a second I wondered what would happen if someone were to walk in at this moment to see three girls standing side by side, dressed in nothing but their bare essentials, scrutinizing a closet.

No doubt that person would piss themselves laughing.

"You're going to wear this light blue summer dress." Levy decided, pulling it out and handing it to me. "And I'm going to wear shorts and…one of these." Her brow furrowed as she looked back and forth between her two choices: a dark blue peasant blouse or a black tank top.

"Why do you get to wear shorts?" I pouted.

"Because this isn't my first date. And because these are my favorite shorts."

"But they're mine!"

"So?"

I sighed.

Levy turned to me, "Which one should I wear?"

"I like both of them. But the blue one is cuter." I muttered.

Hey, Lucy.

Mira! Oh, dear god, now is not the time. Though it's better than yesterday's untimely arrival. What were you fucking thinking, "What should we do? Oh, I have tons of ideas for that, all of which involve me, you, and limited clothing"?! He probably thought I was a crazy loon when I turned bright red and then left!

Ha. That was pretty funny.

I hate you.

Love you, too.

Well?

What?

What do you want? Or are you just here to tell me what to do with my hair?

Leave it down, and I just wanted to tell you that you like Natsu Dragoneel.

WHAT?! No, I don't! We're friends now, but I don't. Seriously.

You like him better than you like all your guy friends.

Yeah, because he's nice and actually pretty sweet and you know…I'm not sucking face with all my other friends like I have been with him.

Exactly. You don't realize it, Lucy, but you like him.

No, I swear, Mira, I really don't. I'm not in denial or anything… I just don't. Seriously. You're being absolutely absurd right now.

Really? Does he make you nauseous?

Slightly, yes. (And by slightly I mean all the time). But that doesn't mean anything! Who puts these things into your head?

Like, butterflies, nauseous?

Um, yeah…but I'm sure that's nothing Mira, seriously, you're just over analyzing.

You like how he looks, don't you?

…yes. Tell me 'I told you so' and I will shut you out for good!

I wasn't going to. You like his personality?

Yeah, I actually do. You know, Mira, this is really weird. You're being mature and not really that annoying right now.

That's because I am the mature, poised, controlled part of your mind that sees the blatant truth and strives you get you to understand.

What is that, like your mission statement or something?

Yes. Okay, Lucy, I'm getting from you that you find him attractive, you get butterflies in your stomach when you're around him, you like his personality and that you enjoy talking to him.

I never said that I enjoy talking to him!

Do you?

Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?!

Okay, then. And that he makes you feel beautiful.

Okay, NEVER said anything that even IMPLIED that.

But he does, doesn't he?

Well, sometimes the way he looks at me…I don't know. I like how he kisses though. It's pretty fabulous. But that's really it. I don't like him. Seriously. I don't. I know you think so, and you're fitting everything in, but I really…don't…at all.

Luce, darling, you like him.

No way! I can't go from hating someone to liking them in a matter of two days!

But it hasn't been just two days. You stopped hating him ages ago. And then you started noticing things about him. And then you kissed him – don't try and deny it! – and you had that freaky horny moment and that Jason Weekly thing and all that stuff yesterday…You get butterflies in your stomach when you're around him. You think he looks nice, you like to talk to him, and you certainly like him more than just a friend. You've been hiding behind your 'hate' this whole time, and you didn't even give him a chance. And then when you finally did, you realized that he's not who you thought he was, and you're scared to find out that you actually like the real him. I know this seems surreal, Lucy, but honestly, you like him. Accept that.

Crap.

I told you so.

Shut up, Mira! My world is going crazy! I think I like Natsu Dragoneel!

"Oi, you okay?" Levy asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

"What?" I jumped and blinked, looking down at Levy, who was looking as though she feared for my mental health.

You know, people get that look a lot around me.

I should be worried about that.

"Are you okay?" She repeated.

"No, not really." I decided to go with the truth.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I just realized something. And I'm not happy about it." I frowned.

"Really? What's that?" She asked, putting both shirts up to her chest.

I took a deep breath. You can do this, Lucy.

"I – um, I think I –" I started, nervously wringing my hands together. "Um…"

"You like Natsu." Levy stated matter-of-factly, putting away her black shirt. "I think I'll wear the blue one."

I gaped at her.

"How do you know?" I asked her incredulously.

"I know everything. I'm Mavis." She said solemnly, looking at me with big grave eyes. "Now, go put on your dress."

"Okay." I said meekly.

* * *

"Hey."

I spun around – why does everyone always come up behind me?! Is it too hard for them to approach me from the front like a normal human being? – and my heart thudded painfully in my chest when I saw Natsu standing there, looking absolutely delectable in his jeans, a button-down blue shirt, and his ever present scarf.

Mira is doing this. She's controlling me.

Really.

"Hey, we match!" I grinned, and he also smiled.

He has a nice smile.

This isn't good.

"So, ready to – ugh, could you at least wait?!" He asked, disgusted, when he caught a glimpse of Levy and Gajeel's enthusiastic making out.

They didn't respond. Typical.

"Let's just go." I suggested when it was evident that Levy and Gajeel weren't going to come up for air anytime soon.

"Every time they do that I get traumatized more and more." He muttered in an annoyed voice, taking my hand and starting to walk down the path.

Let me repeat: HE TOOK MY HAND.

I am holding hands with Natsu Dragoneel.

I really hope my palms aren't sweating right now. Ugh. This is so terrifying.

I can't believe I actually like him! THIS IS SO WEIRD.

"So." I said after a couple of moments of awkward silence.

"So." He repeated, raising his eyebrow at me.

"Er…what's up?"

I winced. Someone slap me across the face.

He grinned. "Way to be awkward Lucy."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You're being awkward right back."

"That's because you're being awkward first."

"Well, I was only being awkward because you were awkward!"

"I was only awkward because you were being awkward."

"I was feeling awkward because of Gajeel and Levy."

"It's all their fault." Natsu nodded wisely.

"It always is." I muttered.

"So…" He announced, and I burst out laughing.

"This is going to be fun." I grinned.

"That's what I'm hoping for." He said. "Where do you want to go first?"

"Let's go to that little 'lovelove' cafe!"

What. The. Hell.

"Jason!" I yelped, jumping about a foot in the air when he suddenly appeared, grinning like the crazy person that he is.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Natsu demanded, looking furious.

"Going on a date." He flashed Natsu cocky grin and then slid his hand into my other one. I shook it hard, but he managed to hold on, the same creepy smile etched on his face the whole time.

"Get – off – of – me – you – creep!" I got out through gritted teeth, still attempting to pull away.

"I can't!" He cried, looking jubilant. "Look, handcuffs!" he said lifting our hands higher.

My mouth dropped open. There were suddenly handcuffs around each of our wrists.

I am going to kill Jason Weekly. Slowly and painfully. And then I will feed him to Happy.

"Jason, I swear to Mavis if you don't let go of her right now I will kick your ass into next week." Natsu threatened as he lunged for Jason.

Jason sang happily. "Let's go, Lu-chan!"

"Don't call me Lu-chan!" I protested, but he ignored me and then proceeded to drag me – yes, literally drag – into the cafe.

"This is revolting." I whispered to Natsu, taking in the disgusting pink explosion.

"I want to leave." He said in a strangled voice. "All this pink is not healthy for one person to handle and I'm one to talk."

"No!" I said, grabbing onto his hand tighter. "You can't leave me here with…with…that."

"Are you referring to me, my darling love?" Jason asked.

"Yes. Yes I am." I snapped. "You're a creep, and I hope you grow up into a crazy old cat-man who never gets married."

Dragoneel laughed while Jason smiled serenely. "I won't, since you'll be marrying me."

I spluttered at him in rage.

"Hello my dearies!" A large woman, clad in all pink, appeared in front of us, her chunky pink lips stretched into a large, fake smile. "I am Madame Amor!"

"Table for two." Jason smiled at her.

"Three." I corrected.

"Are you on a date?" She asked, her smile faltering slightly at the sight of both of my hands, which were clasped with two different boys.

"Well," I shot a sickly sweet smile at her. "I'm on a date with him." I tilted my head towards Natsu, who was attempting to pull pink confetti out of his equally pink hair, looking disgusted. "This one," I tilted my head towards Jason, who was beaming creepily. "Attached himself to my hand and now won't leave me alone."

"Ah," She nodded wisely, like she understood exactly what I was feeling. "Table for three, then."

We sidled over to a table in the back, and I slid into the booth, pulling both Natsu and Jason with me. I scooted as close to Natsu as possible. He looked as though he would dearly like to kill himself.

"Well," I said timidly, taking in his locked jaw and stony glare. "At – at least he didn't ruin yesterday, right?"

"I'm going to kill him." He merely replied. "Kill."

"I'll help." I said, casting a wary look over at Jason, who was much too close to me for my comfort.

He seems to be sniffing my hair.

I can't even begin to describe how incredibly creepy that is.

"You hair smells like flowers!" Jason announced, after he was done breathing on my head.

"Vanilla." Natsu corrected, glaring at him.

"Sorry?" Jason asked pleasantly, the same smug smile sprawled across his face.

I have a strong urge to cut that smile off.

"Her hair smells like vanilla."

They both stared each other down.

Guess who gets to sit in the middle of that? That's right. Moi.

I gulped and did my best to blend in with the upholstery on the couch thingy while the two of them continued to glare at each other.

I have a bad feeling that this is going to turn into a fight. In Madame Amor's shop. While everyone else is sipping out of pink teacups.

That cannot – and I repeat, CANNOT – happen.

So I did the first thing that came to mind – I grabbed Natsu's head and started sucking his face off.

It's really the smartest way out of this. Really.

…and also rather enjoyable for me.

"Oi!" Jason yelped, disgusted, as we continued to kiss. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Kissing!" I replied brightly, pulling my face away from Natsu's temporarily to grin smugly at Jason. "It's what people do with their boyfriends."

"He's your boyfriend?" Jason asked, eyes wide and disbelieving.

Well. No. But Jason doesn't need to know that. I looked pleadingly at Natsu, biting my lip.

"Yes I am." Natsu said, leaning around me to glare at Jason. "So you need to stay the hell away from her."

I beamed and leaned forward to capture his lips once again.

You know, if I just ignore the fact that Jason Weekly is holding my other hand and focus on Natsu's hands around my waist and in my hair, this might even be the best date I have ever been on.

"Want some ice cream?" Natsu asked.

"Vanilla!" I chirped happily, grinning brightly at Natsu's amused expression.

"Hey – ow, watch it!" Jason yelped from behind me as he crashed into someone else. I smiled serenely and jerked on my hand. "Keep moving, Jason."

After much kissing and disgusted sipping of revolting pink everything, we had managed to escape 'lovelove' with minimal mental scarring and a whole lot of pink confetti in our hair.

And now we were trying to make Jason as miserable as possible.

I hope he comes on every date with us! This is so much fun!

"Ice cream? Ok! What flavor would you like, Lucy?" Jason asked enthusiastically, whipping out his money bag.

I ignored him. "Want to share with me, Natsu?"

"Love to." He grinned at me and then pulled some more pink confetti out of my hair. I made a face and shook my crazy hair out.

"Stupid confetti." I muttered, dropping Natsu's hand so I could comb through the mess.

"But this way its closer to matching mine." Natsu winked, pulling out another piece of confetti.

"Thank you," Natsu told the waitress as she placed a large vanilla ice cream in front of us. She smiled shyly, pulling in her bottom lip a little, and then walked back, swaying her hips more than strictly necessary.

I glared at her retreating back while Natsu dug in.

"I thought you wanted some." He said through a mouthful of ice cream. "Lucy?"

"Oh." I said. "Oh, yeah, I do. Sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I said, glaring at the girl one more time before spooning some ice cream into my mouth. His brow furrowed.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Natsu." I smiled at him.

"Would you like anything else?!"

Natsu jumped in surprise and looked around at the girl, who was smiling eagerly at him as she talked in a high, breathy voice.

"Er…no, thanks." He said uncertainly, turning back to me with a curious look. I grinned at him, looking up at the girl, who was gazing at the back of his head with a fervid admiration.

"Are you sure?!" She demanded, after a couple of minutes of raging internal debate.

He turned around again with a muttered 'what the hell is she still doing here? "Yes, I'm completely sure."

"Nothing?" She asked a little desperately. "Because, you know, I wouldn't mind running back and getting it for you."

"No, this is all we need." He said, still sounding a little wary.

"Not even some homework? I could do some homework for you!"

Now that's just too desperate.

"Um." He said, turning around to look at me with wide eyes.

"You know, we do need one thing." I said brightly.

She glared briefly at me. "Yes?" She asked testily.

I nodded to my intertwined hand with Jason, who was inspecting my hair for some more confetti, and Natsu nodded.

"Could you, possibly, figure out how to get handcuffs off someone without the key?" He asked her, flashing a smile at her. "You see, this kid's attached himself to my girlfriend's hand, and –"

"Sure!" She said enthusiastically. She scurried away as fast as she could, and Jason turned to me, looking slightly creeped out.

"This is what I go through every day." I sighed, nodding my head at Jason, who was now staring at my shoes with an intense look.

"It must suck."

"Oh, it does. Immensely."

"So, I'm guessing you can't wait until he's over you, right?" Natsu asked me, his expression carefully neutral.

I sighed. "I've been wanting him to get over me from day one. But…" I bit my lip. "I guess some good things did come out of it."

I said the last part really quietly, so I wasn't even sure that he heard me. I glanced up through my eyelashes and saw that he was eating more ice cream, completely oblivious.

I sighed. Thank god.

"I found it!"

All three of us jumped when the girl screeched the words right behind Natsu's head and held her Smartphone screen in front of Natsu's face.

"Right there, see?" She pointed to it, and watched devotedly while Natsu read it, his brow furrowing slightly in concentration.

"Thank you so much." He said, beaming at her; she looked slightly punch-drunk.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jason asked, finally clueing in on to what was going on around him. Natsu fiddled with the cuffs for a sec and my hand sprang free from Jason's.

"HA!" I yelled, jumping up. "FREE!"

"Thank you, here!" Natsu thrust a couple of fives into the girl's hand. He then grabbed the ice cream, and taking my hand, sprinted after me as I wove through the crazy crowd.

"RUN!" I screamed, giggling like a loon.

I glanced back to see that both Jason and the girl were staring after us rather sadly as we made a wild dash to be as far away from them as possible.

Ha. Suckers.

* * *

chapter eight, eh? what'd you think?

favorite quotes? favorite scenes? favorite characters? _least_ favorite characters? lemme know in a lovely review!

thanks for reading my insanical story :D


	9. Chapter 9

This is it, guys! The end. Can you believe it? This is the first multi-chap fic I've ever tried writing. Ever. Thanks so much for sticking with me!

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

We managed to stumble our way over to the infamous haunted house our little town and without hesitation, Natsu climbed over the fence, helping me as well.

"Come on." He said, pulling on my hand as I hung back warily.

"Um, Natsu, this place –"

"It's not haunted." He assured me, and I let him pull me forward a little. "My dad used to come here when he went to school."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Him and his best friends. Metalicana and Grandine." He looked back at me, and I started walking slowly up the hill.

"Wait Metalicana and Grandine aren't they-"

"Gadget and Wendy's parents, yeah." He pushed open the front door, and dust swirled through the hallway.

"Whoa," I breathed, looking around. "This place is so cool! So, is that why you three are so close?"

"Your dad never told you?" Natsu asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

I shook my head.

"They all died in the same accident. When they were in school they were called 'The Dragons'. They used to get in so much trouble in Fairy High. They were the –"

"The greatest pranksters of the age, I know." I grinned. "My dad did tell me that much. Plus, I was doing detention for Mr. Conbolt once and I came across a whole box full of detention slips that were all for the three of them. It was incredible, the things that they got up to."

He laughed. "I know. I have a bad feeling that Wendy and Romeo want to be the new Dragons of their age."

"And I have a bad feeling that they'll do it." I said.

We both stood there, imagining it for a second. I shuddered. "Luckily, I'll be out of school by then, so I don't have to deal with them."

"I don't even want to think about what they'll get up to." Natsu shuddered as well.

"Come on, let's find somewhere to finish our ice cream." I started leading the way through the abandoned house, picking over broken furniture and climbing through door frames.

* * *

"Come here." He said, still holding my hand as he walked outside. "Let's go back to the tree house. I'm sure we don't have to worry about Jason anymore"

"It's almost Lucy's Twilight." I said softly, looking at the sky. "We're never going to make it on –"

"Not with that attitude!" Natsu yelled as he grabbed my hand and stated sprinting and lead us turn after turn until the woods were insight. He let go of my hand as we ran towards the forest with me following close behind until he abruptly stopped and we ungracefully collided.

And by 'ungracefully', I mean we crashed into each other and rolled down a small hill until we hit a tree, and for a moment all I could see was flashes of gold and pink as we tumbled to the wood.

"Urghh." Natsu groaned from underneath me. "I am never running with you in the dark again."

"Deal." I said, pulling myself off of him and fixing my dress. I took his hand and hauled him up, and he rubbed his sore head while he grabbed at a rope that pulled the ladder down and we both climbed up.

Panting we reached the top and I turned "So, that was romantic." I said dryly. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and pretty soon we were both dying of laughter.

"I don't think I've ever had this much fun before in my life." I said happily, sucking in a breath at the sight of the forest again.

"Me neither." He said, taking my hand. "And we got here on time."

I looked over at the sky again. "Lucy's twilight." I sighed happily. "You know, that's my new favorite time of the day."

* * *

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

If I was any happier, I'd probably burst. This is it. This is about as happy as a person can get. It seriously does not get any better than this.

I. Am. The. Happiest. Person. On. Earth.

Lucy's twilight is her favorite time of the day. She loves our twilight.

She loves being with me.

God, if this is what love is like, I don't ever want it to stop. I mean, what was I thinking? Love doesn't hurt. It's…wow. I can't even describe it. It feels like something inside me is just…free. Flying.

I'm in love with Lucy Heartfilia, and I'm the happiest person on earth.

And that's about as good as it gets.

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

I leaned my head on his shoulder as I watched the sky.

"This is absolutely surreal." I murmured, looking up at him.

"What is?" He asked.

"Me. You. This. All of it."

He seemed to understand. "I know. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a dream or something."

I smiled shyly. "I don't ever want to wake up."

I could feel his eyes on me, but I continued to gaze forward, struggling to conceal the blush on my face.

"You're right." He finally said, and I glanced at him to see that he was staring at the sky, his face washed in golden light. "Something good did come out of this."

I blushed. "You heard that?"

"Yeah." He smiled at me. "I have to thank Jason Weekly for making us do this."

I laughed. "I can't believe you just said 'thank' and 'Jason Weekly' in the same sentence."

"Don't tell anyone." He whispered. I laughed again.

"I can't believe how close we got over a couple of days, Natsu." I said, looking at him. "I'm glad we did. I guess it's true that you never know what you're missing out on until it arrives."

"It makes you wonder, though, doesn't it?" He asked.

"Wonder what?"

"Maybe this was supposed to happen. Like, from the beginning. It was all planned out." He said.

"What?" I asked. "You mean, like, fate?"

"Naw." He said. "I don't believe in fate. We make our own lives. Just…you know. Something up there, making sure that all this happened."

"Fate." I insisted.

"No, not fate."

"Then what?" I asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"That's not an answer." I retorted, narrowing my eyes.

"Not everything has a good answer. Sometimes things just happen, and you can't explain them." His head tilted to the side as he turned me around to face him, an intense, thoughtful look coming into his eyes as he regarded me carefully. Nervous butterflies fluttered through me.

"What – Natsu, what are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"Sometimes you don't have enough words to describe something. Sometimes, even you can't tell what's happening. It just happens. And then, before you know it, everything's been changed, and you find yourself not wanting to turn it back to the way it was before. Because, sometimes, you figure out right away that things happen for a reason; and good things…well, they don't happen often, so you have to make the most of them." He was talking very softly now, the look never leaving his eyes. I looked up at him, eyes wide and lips slightly parted.

"I don't understand." I whispered.

"That's okay. Me neither." He whispered back, his eyes dancing with light.

"Then what were you talking about?"

He grinned. "Fate, I guess."

"You just said –" I began indignantly, but he shushed me, putting a finger to my mouth.

"Close your eyes." He whispered, and I obeyed, partly because I was too breathless from his face so close to mine.

His lips came down to gently brush across my own, and one of his hands buried itself into my hair, the other cupping my cheek.

He kissed me softly again, like I was a bubble that could break at any moment. It was simple and tender and sweet, but it knocked the breath right out of me.

I could feel him pulling away, but I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of his thumbs as the moved across my cheek and lips.

"Lucy." He murmured.

"Hmm?"

I could feel him lean his forehead against mine. "I love you."

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

**NATSU DRAGONEEL**

"Oi, you ready?" Gajeel stuck his head in as I fixed my tie, running my hand through my hair as I took in my nervous expression in the mirror.

"I guess so." I said, swallowing a couple of times. I took a couple of deep breaths.

"You'll be fine." Gajeel walked in and clapped me on the back. "At first it's pretty nerve-wracking, but then she comes down the aisle and you sort of…forget everything else."

"Yeah?" I asked him.

He nodded. "It's what happened to me when Shrimp walked down."

"No, actually, I remember you cursing a whole lot: 'Holy fuck, she looks fucking gorgeous. She needs to hurry the fuck up, I'm getting fucking nervous'." I grinned at him as he slapped me across the back of my head.

"Not in front of Junior." He hissed.

"Dad, what does fuck mean?" Fae asked, as if on cue.

I laughed loudly and turned back to the mirror while Gajeel glared at me and then started stuttering, "Uh…that's not a word."

"Then why did Uncle Natsu say it?"

"He said duck. Right, Natsu?"

"Yep." I agreed. "I said duck."

Fae narrowed her eyes at us, whipping her sky kissed head back and forth. "I'm going to ask mom."

"No!" We both yelled, and Gajeel bent down and quickly scooped her up.

"Why not? If it's not a real word, then I can say it to mommy, right?" Fae asked, struggling against Gajeel's hold.

"No, you can't." Gajeel said seriously. "If you ever say that word, Santa Clause will stop giving you presents."

Fae stopped squirming, eyes wide. "Really?" She breathed, looking horrified.

"Oh, yeah." I interjected. "It's why I never get any presents from Santa."

"Well, damn!" Fae said, her eyes still wide.

We stared at her. "Who taught you that word, Fae?" Gajeel asked patiently, shooting me a brief glare.

"Uncle Gray!" Fae declared proudly. "He knows lotsa big words."

I snorted while Gajeel put Fae down, muttering angrily under his breath. "Teaching a fucking three year old curse words, what the fucking hell is the ass thinking?"

"I wanna go see Aunt Lucy!" Fae tugged on Gajeel's hand.

"Not yet, kiddo."Gajeel ruffled her hair. "You'll see her soon, promise."

"In the big white dress?" Fae asked. My stomach lurched.

"Yep. But first you come with the flowers and go to Uncle Natsu, remember?"

"Yeah! I 'member!" Fae puffed out her chest proudly. "Aunt Lucy said I have the most important job ever."

"You do." I agreed.

"I love Aunt Lucy." Fae declared after a moment of smiling happily. "When I grow up, I'm going to marry someone just you Uncle Natsu. And then I'll be just like her!"

"Gajeel, I'm going to barf." I said weakly.

"Take a deep breath, man. You've been in love with her since you were how old?"

"Three."

"That's r– Holy Fuck, three?"

"Shut up."

"Come on. It's show time." Gajeel said, ushering Fae out the door and turning to me. "You ready, Flamebrain?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I rotated my head a couple of times and cracked my knuckles. "Right. Let's do this thing."

* * *

**LUCY HEARTFILIA**

"Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip, don't trip. Daddy, do not let me trip." I hissed frantically through gritted teeth as we waited for my cue to start walking.

"Calm down, love. I wouldn't ever let you trip." He said soothingly.

"I'm holding you to that – oh, shit, there's my cue! DON'T LET ME TRIP."

"Language, sweetheart." He muttered to me, smiling at everyone through his teeth.

"Yeah, whatever."

I wasn't interested anymore. I looked past all the people – I can see them later anyway, who cares? – and glanced briefly at Levy, Cana, Erza, Wendy, Juvia, Gajeel, Gray, Laxus, and Jellal, who were all beaming as they stood up there, before my eyes moved to the most amazing person in my world. My heart nearly stopped beating.

His green eyes were smoldering and intense as he looked at me, awe splashed across his face. His pink hair stuck up in just the right way, and his face was just…perfect.

And he was mine.

"She's all yours." Daddy whispered to Natsu, winking at him as he placed my hand in Natsu's. He planted a kiss on my forehead and went to sit with Makarov and Porlyusica.

"Hey," I whispered shyly.

He swallowed thickly. "You look beautiful, Lucy."

I blushed.

"We are gathered here…" The priest started his droning and I let my eyes wander around the room, knowing that Natsu was probably doing the same.

We both have concentration issues. And problems with old people who have authority.

Don't judge us.

I glanced at Jason, who was smiling happily as the ice cream waitress, Beth Something-or-other leaned over to whisper in his ear. He kissed her cheek, and she giggled.

It's inevitable, really, that two of the creepiest people I have ever met end up together. It's like a match made in stalker heaven.

I watched as Cana's current boyfriend winked at her. He actually seems nice. Aside from the fact his drinking can give hers a run for her money and the tattoos on his face. Like really who tattoos their face! Well Jellal does… and Bixlow... nevermind. I hope they stay together for longer than three weeks. A flash of blue caught my eye, and I noticed that Romeo Conbolt was grinning at Wendy, who seemed to be mouthing something at him.

He's actually a nice guy. Really sweet, absolutely hilarious, and rather clever. Right now him and Wendy are 'just friends', but we'll see how that goes. They like each other too much to stay 'just friends'.

"…linked in holy matrimony…" The priest warbled in a flat monotone. Natsu sighed exasperatedly.

"…holy matrimony…" Mavis, how many times is that bloke going to say 'holy matrimony'?! We fucking get it!

Natsu sighed again, then his jaw locked as the priest went off on a tangent about the stars in alignment for this moment. I glanced at Natsu, who looked downright murderous.

Oh, dear.

"Yes, yes, we get it! Let's get on with the vows! QUICK, BEFORE SHE CHANGES HER MIND!" Natsu yelled out, finally snapping.

The priest glared at him, then cleared his throat. "Do you, Natsu Dragoneel, take Lucy Heartfilia to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Natsu said, sounding victorious and still a little irritated.

"And do you, take Lucy Heartfilia take Natsu Dragoneel to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

I took a deep breath and looked at Natsu. His eyes were slightly anxious, and I couldn't help but wonder when he would finally get used to the fact that yes, I was in love with him.

This is it. My last words as Lucy Heartfilia.

"I do."

And as Natsu kissed me, I felt as though those were possibly the best words that I could have said.

* * *

"Alright, open your eyes." Natsu said, and I slowly opened them. My jaw dropped open.

"Oh, Natsu!" I gasped, taking in the scene around me. "How did you –? Oh my god, Natsu, this is perfect!"

He grinned, though he looked nervous. "You don't think it's not fancy enough?"

"It's perfect." I declared, beaming. "Natsu, it's absolutely perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon location!"

After the wedding, we had decided not to stick around for the party afterwards (everyone was going to get smashed anyway – what's the point?) and without even letting me change out of my dress, Natsu had insisted we leave for our honeymoon.

I couldn't entirely hold back a small tear as I looked at our tree house. "I love this place." I said.

"Me too." He wrapped his arms around me. "I love you, Mrs. Dragoneel."

I laughed at that, a little shocked – I hadn't even realized that I was now . "It's going to take some time to get used to that."

"We have time." His eyes were bright. I smiled at him, biting my lip.

"Come on." I said, changing into a pair of short and a tank top. I let my hair out and sat at the edge of the balcony, swinging my legs. Natsu sat down next to me, also dressed in shorts and a tee-shirt, and he took my hand as we looked over the grounds.

The rays of sunlight shot out over the sky and I let out a breathless laugh. "It's just as beautiful as it used to be." I whispered, looking up at the scene.

"It'll always be beautiful." Natsu said, wrapping his arm around me and kissing me lightly on the lips. "Forever. It'll be Lucy's twilight."

"Our twilight." I corrected, leaning into him.

He laughed. "That's right. Our Twilight."

* * *

There you go guys! Tell me what you think as always, reviews are appreciated more then you'll ever know.

AND IF YOU LIKED IT THE SCOOT ALONG TO MY OTHER STORY**_ SHAVED ICE,_** *shameless self plug* IT'S A GRUVIA PREQUEL TO THIS.

Cheers!


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